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REPORT  OF  THE  COMMISSIONERS 


OF  THE 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION 


OF   THE 


EARLY  SETTLEMENT 


OF  THE 


itojtg  Jlcrtfj       i«t  of 


AND  OF  THE 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT  THEEEIN, 


HELD    AT 


MARIETTA,  OHIO,  JULY  15-19  INCLUSIVE,   1888. 


Including  Verbatim  Reports  and    Speeches   and  Transactions    of 

tecasion. 


COLUMBUS,  OHIO: 
THE  WESTBOTE  COMPANY,  STATE  PRINTERS. 


F 


3 


M/J  /A/ 


In  compliance  with  current  copyright 

law,  U.  C.  Library  Bindery  produced 

this  replacement  volume  on  paper 

that  meets  the  ANSI  Standard  Z39.48- 

1984  to  replace  the  irreparably 

deteriorated  original 

1995 


MARIETTA,  O.,  January  28,  1889. 
His  Excellency,  J.  B.  FORAKER,  Governor  of  Ohio  : 

MY  DEAR  SIR  :  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit,  herewith,  the  report  of  your 
Commissioners  of  the  National  Centennial  celebration  of  the  early  settlement 
of  the  territory  northwest  of  the  River  Ohio,  and  of  the  establishment  of  civil 
government  therein,  held  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  July  15  to  19  (inclusive,)  1888, 
together  with  a  verbatim  report  of  all  the  speeches  and  transactions  of  the  occasion. 
I  am,  sir,  most  respectfully  and  truly, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

W.  B.  LOOMIS, 
Chairman  of  the  Commission. 


REPORT  OF  THE   COMMISSIONERS 


OF   THE 


National  Centennial  Celebration 

OF   THE 

EARLY  SETTLEMENT  OF   THE  "TERRITORY  NORTHWEST 
OF   THE  RIVER    OHIO,"  AND  OF  THE    ESTABLISH 
MENT  OF  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT  THEREIN, 

HELD    AT 

Marietta,  Ohio,  July  15  to  19,  Inclusive,  1888. 


To  the  Governor  and  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Ohio : 

Your  Commissioners  beg  leave  to  submit  their  report  of 
the  National  Centennial  Celebration  held  at  Marietta,  Ohio, 
July  15  to  19  inclusive,  1888,  under,  and  in  pursuance  of  the 
following  joint  resolutions  and  acts  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  State  of  Ohio,  to-wit : 

SENATE  JOINT  RESOLUTION  No.  21. 

WHEREAS,  Civil  Government  was  established  in  the  Northwest  Territory  at 
Marietta,  Ohio,  under  the  ordinance  of  1787,  by  Gov.  St.  Clair,  July  15,  1788, 
where  it  is  now  proposed  to  hold  a  Centennial  Celebration  in  commemoration  of 
that  historic  erent,  July  15,  1888. 

Be  it  resolved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  That  so  much  of 
the  Joint  Resolution  No.  13,  adopted  March  31,  1886,  and  No.  39,  adopted  Feb 
ruary  8,  1887,  referring  to  the  date  of  the  Centennial  Celebration  at  Marietta, 


REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


Ohio,  be  and  is  hereby  repealed,  and  the  date  of  July  15,  1888,  be  substituted  for 
April  17,  1888,  and  otherwise,  those  resolutions  shall  remain  in  full  force  and 
effect. 

Resolved,  That  the  Governor  is  hereby  requested  to  transmit  to  the  Execu 
tives  of  each  of  the  States  of  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  copies 
of  this  Joint  Resolution. 

ELBERT  L.  LAMPSON, 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
THEODORE  F.  DAVIS, 
President  pro  tern,  of  the  Senate. 
Adopted  February  9,  1888. 


SENATE  JOINT  RESOLUTION  No.  28. 

WHEREAS,  Civil  Government  under  the  ordinance  of  1787,  was  established 
in  the  Northwest  Territory  by  the  inauguration  of  Governor  St.  Clair,  at  Marietta, 
Ohio,  on  July  15,  1788,  when  the  said  Governor,  Judges  and  Secretary  of  the 
Territory  entered  upon  their  official  duties. 

WHEREAS,  It  is  proposed  to  commemorate  that  historical  event  by  a 
suitable  Centennial  Celebration,  conducted  by  a  "  committee  of  one  hundred  " 
citizens  of  that  place ;  and 

WHEREAS,  By  Senate  Joint  Resolution  No.  21,  adopted  February  9,  1888, 
the  1 5th  day  of  July,  1888.  was  fixed  as  the  date  for  the  commencement  of  such 
Celebration. 

Be  it  resolved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  That  the  Governor 
is  authorized  and  instructed  to  appoint  seven  commissioners,  who  shall,  immedi 
ately  upon  their  appointment,  enter  upon  their  duties,  and  shall  serve  without 
compensation,  to  co-operate  with  said  "  committee  of  one  hundred,"  and  especially 
to  have  in  charge  the  collection  of  historical  matter  in  connection  with  such 
Centennial,  and  the  event  it  is  to  celebrate,  for  use  in  such  commemoration,  and 
to  report  the  same  on  or  before  November  15,  1888,  together  with  a  full  and  com 
plete  account  of  such  Celebration  to  the  Governor,  for  the  use  of  the  General 
Assembly  and  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  and  to  perform  such  other  duties  as  may 
be  assigned  them. 

ELBERT  L.  LAMPSON, 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
WM.  C.  LYON, 

President  of  the  Senate. 

Adopted  March  2,  1888. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION. 


The  Commissioners  appointed  by  the  Governor  in  pursu 
ance  of  Senate  Joint  Resolution  No.  28,  were  the  following 
gentlemen,  citizens  of  Marietta,  and  were  organized  as  follows : 

Hon.  William  B.  Loomis. Chairman. 

"  Anselm  Tupper  Nye Vice  Chairman. 

"  Samuel  M.  McMillan Secretary. 

"  John  Strecker Treasurer.    * 

"  Theodore  F.  Davis. 

"  Lowell  W.  Ellenwood. 

"  Francis  F.  Oldham. 

Extract  from  the  general  appropriation  bill  passed  by  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  April  16,  1888  : 

"  In  aid  of  the  Centennial  Celebration  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  beginning  July  15, 
1888,  of  the  establishment  of  Civil  Government  in  the  Territory  Northwest  of 
the  River  Ohio,  under  the  ordinance  of  1787,  the  sum  of  seven  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars  ($7,500),  to  be  paid  to  and  expended  under  the  supervision  of 
the  seven  Commissioners  appointed  by  the  Governor  under  the  provisions  of 
Senate  Joint  Resolution  No.  28. 

"  Said  Commissioners  shall  keep  an  account  of  all  sums  expended,  and  make 
a  report  of  such  expenditure  to  the  General  Assembly  at  its  next  session  ;  and 
the  Auditor  shall  draw  his  warrant  upon  vouchers  signed  by  not  less  than  four 
of  said  Commissioners." 

HOUSE  JOINT  RESOLUTION  No.  25. 

WHEREAS,  The  General  Assembly,  at  its  last  session,  by  a  Joint  Resolution, 
extended  through  her  Governor  special  invitations  to  the  States  framed  out  of 
the  Northwest  Territory,  asking  them  to  take  part  in  the  Centennial  Exposition 
and  celebration  of  the  organization  of  such  Territory ; 

WHEREAS,  Those  States,  and  others  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  by  action 
of  their  Legislative  Assemblies,  have  indicated  their  purpose  to  take  part  in  such 
Celebration  and  Exposition,  and  have  appointed  Honorable  Commissioners  com. 
posed  of  Governors,  State  officials  and  members  of  their  Legislative  Assemblies  to 
represent  them  on  the  occasion ;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  That  in  order  to  show 
our  appreciation  of  this  recognition  of  our  Centennial  Celebration  and  Exposi- 


REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


don  by  our  sister  States,  and  show  proper  respect  to  the  distinguished  guests  who 
will  come  on  this  friendly  mission  as  the  representatives  of  those  and  other  States, 
or  as  the  representatives  of  the  General  Government,  there  be  and  hereby  is  cre 
ated  a  Commission,  to  be  composed  of  three  members  of  the  Senate,  six  members 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the 
State,  and  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  to  be  known  as  the 
State  Centennial  Reception  Commission,  whose  duties  it  shall  be  to  properly 
receive,  welcome  and  care  for  all  National  and  State  officials  and  others  coming 
in  sueh  representative  character  to  the  Expositions  and  Celebrations  at  either 
Cincinnati,  Columbus  or  Marietta. 

Resolved,  That  there  is  hereby  appropriated  out  of  any  money  in  the  State 
Treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated,  the  sum  of  five  thousand  dollars  ($5>ooo)> 
or  as  much  thereof  as  may  be  actually  required  for  the  purpose  of  paying  the 
expenses  incurred  by  such  Commission  in  cariying  out  the  purposes  of  this  Joint 
Resolution,  to  be  paid  on  the  certificate  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Commission,  and 
said  Commission  shall  keep  an  account  of  all  sums  expended  and  make  a  report 
of  such  expenditure  to  the  General  Assembly  at  the  next  session. 

ELBERT  L.  LAMPSON, 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

WM.  C.  LYON, 

President  of  the  Senate. 

Adopted  April  14,  1888. 

The  State  Centennial  Reception  Committee  was  constituted 
as  follows : 

Hon.  J.  B.  Foraker,  Governor  of  Ohio,  Chairman. 

Hon.  E.  L.  Lampson,  Speaker  of  House  of  Representatives,  Vice- Chairman- 
Hon.  William  C.  Lyon,  Lieutenant-Governor. 

Hon.  Theodore  F.  Davis,  Senator  from  Washington  county,  and  President 
pro  tern,  of  the  Senate. 

Hon.  Henry  Steuve,  Senator  from  Hamilton  county. 

Hon.  William  T.  Wallace,  Senator  from  Franklin  county. 

Hon.  Henry  C.  Sanford,  Representative  from  Summit  county. 

Hon.  Christian  L.  Poorman,  Representative  from  Belmont  county. 

Hon.  Byron  S.  Wydman,  Representative  from  Hamilton  county. 

Hon.  Lewis  C.  Laylin,  Representative  from  Huron  county. 

Hon.  John  L.  Geyser,  Representative  from  Paulding  and  Defiance  counties. 

Hon.  Mathias  A.  Smalley,  Representative  from  Wyandot  county. 

Hon.  John  M.  Doane,  State  Librarian,  Secretary. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION 


Wisconsin— Prof.  J.  D.  Butler,  LL  D.,  Hon.  J.  D.  Cassady,  Judge  of  Supreme 
Court. 


LOCAL  ORGANIZATION. 

At  a  public  meeting  of  citizens  of  Marietta  and  vicinity  a 
committee  of  one  hundred  was  selected,  through  whose  efforts 
the  proposed  celebration  was  to  be  carried  forward.  This  com 
mittee  consisted  of  the  following-named  persons  : 


Alderman,  E.  R. 
Alderman,  A.  D. 
Blair,  Joel  M. 
Buell,  W.  H. 
Best,  G.  C. 
Blake,  George 
Bohl,  Hon.  Henry 
Bachman,  Philip 
Battis,  W.  M. 
Blohm,  Wm. 
Bruce,  Robert 
Barthalow,  W.  G. 
Brennan,  Frank  R. 
Cutler,  Judge  F.  J. 
Cotton,  Dr.  J.  D. 
Cadwallader,  J.  D. 
Cisler,  Thomas 
Coulter,  Josiah  (Mayor) 
Dye,  W.  P. 
Davis,  Capt.  Steven 
Davis,  Hon.  T.  F. 
Eaton,  Hon.  John 
Elston,  Geo.  T. 
Eddy,  Dr.  C.  W. 
Ellenwood,  L.  W. 
Fischer,  P.  C. 
Frayzer,  Judge  C.  T. 
Grafton,  J.  H. 
•Gurley,  W.  C. 
Grafton,  George 
Goldsmith,  Capt.  Jno.  C. 
Goebel,  Louis 
Hathaway,  S.  J. 


Harris,  Wm. 
Hart,  Dr.  Samuel 
Hill,  Hiram  A. 
Highland, 'Thomas 
Haight,  James 
Krigbaum,  Conrad 
Kunz,  Peter  Jr. 
Kuehn,  Rev.  John  B. 
Knox,  M.  G. 
Kelley,  J.  W. 
Kirby,  S.  B. 
Loomis,  Hon.  W.  B. 
Lund,  G.  J. 
Leeper,  Judge  W.  H. 
Lashley,  J.  B. 
Lucas,  Harry  G. 
Lyman,  C.  C. 
Lapham,  Zina 
'Lucks,  M.  S. 
Laing,  J.  P. 
McCormick,  J.  W. 
McMillen,  S.  M. 
Moore,  L.  W. 
McMillen,  Murray 
Mueller,  Jacob 
Meister,  Gotleib 
Moser,  Peter 
McKim,  Dr.  F.  E. 
Nye,  A.  T. 
Nye,  James  W. 
Oldham,  F.  F. 
Pugh,  D.  P. 
Phillips,  Col.  R.  E. 


Protsman,  L.  S. 
Pape,  Charles 
Rose,  M.  M. 
Rodick,  Bernard 
Ridgway,  Sidney 
Rose,  I.  R. 
Rech,  Jacob 
Richards,  Geo.  W. 
Spence,  G.  L. 
Strecker,  Hon.  John 
Strecker,  Chas. 
Stevens,  Geo.  P. 
Sinclair,  Jesse  B. 
Stoehr,  Benj. 
Strecker,  Geo. 
Sniffen,  Wra.  A. 
Thompkins,  A.  W. 
Styer,  W.  H. 
Turner,  F.  S. 
Torpy,  D.  B. 
Warner,  Hon.  A.  J. 
Woodbridge,  Hon.  G.  M. 
West,  J.  B. 
Walter,  Dr.  Z.  D. 
Wendelkin,  W.  F. 
Wells,  C.  K. 
Wittlig,  Jacob 
Weiser,  George 
.  Weber,  Chas.  L. 
Willis,  Dr.  O.  M. 
Warner,  E.  E. 
Wheatley,  John  B. 


IO  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


SENATE  JOINT  RESOLUTION  No.  24. 

WHEREAS,  In  pursuance  of  Senate  Joint  Resolution  passed  February  9, 
1888,  the  Governor  is  requested  to  transmit  copies  of  said  joint  resolution  to  the 
Executives  of  the  States  of  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  ;  and 

WHEREAS,  The  early  settlers  of  the  "Territory  Northwest  of  the  River 
Ohio  "  chiefly  came  from  our  sister  States,  Pennsylvania,  West  Virginia  and  Ken 
tucky  ;  and 

WHEREAS,  The  people  of  said  States  of  Pennsylvania,  West  Virginia  and 
Kentucky  have  in  common  a  historical  interest  in  the  great  struggles  for  the 
acquisition  of  the  Territory  Northwest  of  the  Ohio  River  by  conquest  from  the 
British  crown,  with  the  people  of  the  States  now  comprising  said  territory  ;  and 

WHEREAS,  Believing  it  to  be  the  earnest  wish  of  the  people  of  Ohio  that  the 
people  of  our  sister  States,  Pennsylvania,  West  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  should 
unite  with  the  people  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  in  the 
social  celebration  of  these  events  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  July  15,  1888,  and  also  in 
the  Industrial  and  Educational  Expositfon  at  the  Capital  in  the  autumn  of  the 
same  year ;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  That  the  Governor  is 
hereby  requested  to  transmit  to  the  executives  of  each  of  the  States  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  West  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  copies  of  this  and  all  other  Joint  Resolutions  - 
passed  by  this  or  any  other  General  Assembly  of  Ohio,  relating  to  said  event,  in 
su$h  manner  and  with  such  greetings  and  formal  invitations  as  he  may  deem 
proper. 

ELBERT  L.  LAMPSON, 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
W.  C.  LYON, 

President  of  the  Senate. 

Adopted  March  8,  1888. 

In  response  to  invitations  extended  by  the  Governor  of 
Ohio,  in  compliance  with  Resolutions  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  State  of  Ohio,  the  Governors  of  the  States  embraced 
in  the  "Territory  North-west  of  the  River  Ohio,"  appointed 
the  following  Commissioners  to  represent  their  respective  States: 

Illinois—  Hon.  N.  P.  Smith. 

Indiana— Hon.  B.Wilson  Smith,  Hon.  I.  W.  Study,  Hon.  Daniel  M.  Donald,. 
Hon.  John  H.  Stotsenburg. 

Michigan— Hon.  J.  W.  Belknap,  Hon.  George  T.  Rice,  Hon.  Talcott  E, 
Wing,  Hon.  Jerome  T.  Cobb,  Hon.  George  H.  Green,  Hon.  Lewis  G.  Palmer. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL   CELEBRATION.!     :,'. 

~  -  ~"~- 


The  following  ladies  were  also  addecF  ta^kgr^ommittee  of 


100: 

Mrs.  W.  H.  Buell. 
Mrs.  Dr.  H.  N.  Curtis. 
Mrs.  T.  N.  Dale. 
Mrs.  Theo.  F.  Davis. 
Mrs.  Mary  Fuller. 
Mrs.  John  M.  Gerken. 
Mrs.  J.  H.  Grafton. 
Mrs.  E.  F.  Hill. 
Mrs.  S.  J.  Hathaway. 


Mrs.  Dr.  Samuel  Hart. 
Mrs.  Thomas  Hancock. 
Miss  Addie  Irish. 
Mrs.  Jas.  P.  Laing. 
Mrs.  W.  B.  Loomis. 
Mrs.  L.  A.  McCloskey. 
Mrs.  R.  T.  Moore. 
Miss  Emma  Pfeiffer. 


Addition  to  committee  of  100  : 


Dr.  H.  N.  Curtis. 
Peter  Grub. 
Wm.  Gracey. 


Capt.  C.  A.  Miller. 
Louis  Mueller. 
J.  L.  Reckard. 


Mrs.  J.  L.  Reckard. 
Mrs.  H.  L.  Sibley. 
Mrs.  W.  A.  Sniffen. 
Mrs.  D.  B.  Torpy. 
Mrs.  J.  B.  West. 
Miss  M.  P.  Woodbridge. 
Mrs.  E.  E.  Warner. 
Mrs.  Dr.  J.  M.  McLure. 


B.  F.  Strecker. 
T.  H.  Sugden. 
S.  R.  Van  Metre. 


The  committee  of  100  was  organized  as  follows : 

Samuel  McMillen,  Chairman.  • 

George  P.  Stevens,  Mayor  of  Harmar,  Vice  Chairman. 
Seymour  J.  Hathaway,  Secretary. 
Manning  J.  Rose,  Assistant  Secretary. 
Frederick  J.  Cutter,  Treasurer. 

Sub-committees  were  also  appointed,  with  officers  as  fol 
lows  : 

Executive  Committee. 
Dr.  J.  D.  Cotton,  Chairman.  M.  M.  Rose,  Secretary. 

Managers. 

W.  H.  Buell,  James  W.  Nye,  M.  M.  Rose. 

C.  T.  Frayzer,  Corresponding  and  General  Secretary. 

Finance  Committee. 
A.  T.  Nye,  Chairman.     L.  Morton,  Secretary.     Mrs.  Dr.  H.  N.  Curtis,  Treasurer^ 

Committee  on  Invitation  and  Speaker*. 
Hen.  W.  B.  Loomis,  Chairman.  C.  T.  Frayzer,  Secretary. 


12  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

Reception. 
Hon.  Theodore  F.  Davis,  Chairman.  R.  L.  Nye,  Secretary. 

Entertainment. 
B.  F.  Strecker,  Chairman.  J.  J.  Neuer,  Secretary. 

Railroad  and  River   Transportation. 
T.  D.  Dale,  Chairman.  W.  R.  Grimes,  Secretary. 

Advertising. 
Hon.  George  M.  Woodbridge,  Chairman.  L.  Morton,  Secretary. 

Pioneer  and  Family  Reunions. 
Mrs.  T.  D.  Dale,  Chairman.  Miss  Mary  C.  Nye,  Secretary. 

Militia. 
I.  R.  Rose,  Chairman.  F.  J.  Cutter,  Secretary. 

Artillery  Salutes. 

Captain  C.  A.  Miller. 

• 

Auditing  Committee. 
W.  H.  Buell,  Josiah  Coulter,  W.  P.  Dye. 

Public  Assemblies. 
Win.  Harris,  Chairman.  L.  W.  Ellenwood,  Secretary. 

Music. 
Louis  Mueller,  Chairman.  J.  H.  F.  Browning,  Secretary. 

Press  Committee. 
S.  M.  McMillen,  Chairman.  A.  D.  Alderman,  Secretary. 

Decoration  and  Spectacular  Representation. 

John  J.  Garry,  Chairman.  Mrs.  R.  C.  Berry,  Secretary. 

• 
Historical  Relics. 

Mrs.  Sarah  N.  Lovell,  Chairman.  Mrs.  Thomas  Hancock,  Secretary. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  1 3. 

Township  Histories. 
Mrs.  S.  J.  Hathaway. 

Historical  Pageant. 
Mrs.  Prof.  Edward  E.  Phillips,  Manager. 

Women's  Centennial  Association  of  Washington  County. 

Mrs.  Maria  N.  Buell,  President.  Mrs.  George  Irish,  Vice  President. 

Nirs.  Thomas  Hancock,  Rec.  Secy.  Miss  Addie  Irish,  Secretary,  pro  tern* 

Mrs.  James  B.  West,  Treasurer.  Miss  Mary  C.  Nyc,  Cor.  Secretary. 

The  work  of  the  Commission,  in  co-operation  with  the 
"  Committee  of  One  Hundred,''  was  lightened  by  the  enthu 
siasm  of  the  people  of  Marietta  and  vicinity,  and  their  appre 
ciation  of  the  importance  of  the  great  event  to  be  celebrated. 

Local  history,  family  traditions,  the  annual  reunions  of  the 
Pioneer  Association,  with  occasional  more  important  celebra 
tions,  as  pointers  in  the  march  of  time,  all  contributed  to  make 
possible  this  Centennial  Celebration. 

The  people  had  thus  been  educated  to  estimate  the  true 
value  of  their  birth-right — a  right  not  possessed  by  or  accred 
ited  to  any  other  community,  viz.:  the  establishment  of  civil 
government  in  what  is  now  the  Empire  of  the  Northwest. 
Without  intruding  upon  the  province  of  the  controversial  his 
torian,  it  may  be  recognized,  as  claimed  by  the  distinguished 
representatives  of  other  States,  that  permanent  white  settle 
ments  antedated  that  at  Marietta,  Ohio. 

But,  nevertheless,  the  birth-right  remains  of  a  settlement 
first  made  here  under  law,  and  civil  institutions  established, 
which,  after  the  trial  of  a  century,  have  endured,  notwithstand 
ing  an  intermediate  life-taking  conflict. 


14  REPORT   OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS   OF    THE 

The  social  and  political  institutions  established,  and  not 
the  purchase  and  occupancy  of  a  tract  of  land,  is  our  royal  mark 
of  precedence. 

It  was  in  this  spirit  and  in  recognition  of  the  great  fact  that 
here  at  Marietta,  was  first  put  in  operation  a  body  of  organic 
law,  so  well  conceived  as  to  be  simple  enough  for  the  convenient 
government  of  a  primitive  community,  and  at  the  same  time, 
broad,  strong  and  elastic  enough  upon  which  to  founc?  an 
empire  of  ten  millions  of  people  in  the  most  advanced  state  of 
civilization,  that  the  Celebration  was  undertaken  by  Marietta  ; 
and  the  State  also,  in  the  same  spirit,  marked  its  approbation 
by  suitable  legislation  and  liberal  appropriation. 

The  descendants  of  the  first  settlers,  many  of  whom  reside 
in  the  county  still,  took  part  in  these  reunions  and  local  cele 
brations,  and  helped  to  keep  alive  a  spirit  of  patriotism,  with 
-admiration  and  reverence  for  those  of  their  ancestors  who  had 
endured  the  hardships  and  privations  of  frontier  life  a  hundred 
years  ago. 

This  sentiment  permeated  the  whole  community,  and  pro 
moted  this  Celebration  of  the  great  event,  in  which  a  few  of 
their  ancestors  had  taken  part,  and  of  which  none  of  the 
present  generation  failed  to  recognize  the  significance  and  im 
portance.  An  event,  not  only  in  which  the  immediate  descend 
ants  of  the  early  pioneers  with  enviable  pride  take  pleasure, 
but  to  the  celebration  of  which  the  people  of  the  whole  North 
west  might,  with  propriety,  be  invited. 

The  Pioneer  Association  of  Washington  county  had  just 
held  a  celebration  of  more  than  usual  importance. 

This  also  paved  the  way,  and  lent  an  added  interest  to  the 
•  celebration  of  the  great  event,  of  which  the  arrival  a  few 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  15 

months  before,  of  the  representatives  of  the  Ohio  company,  was 
the  forerunner. 

The  familiar  family  pride  in  ancestors  who  had  taken  part 
in  these  events  gave  way,  and  was  merged  with  that  larger 
pride  of  multitudes  of  fellow-citizens  now  inhabiting  the  great 
States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin. 

Arrangements  were  made  by  the  State  Reception  Com 
mittee  in  accordance  with  House  Joint  Resolution  No.  25,  to 
enable  the  Governor  to  extend  the  ^courtesies  and  hospitalities 
of  the  State  to  official  and  distinguished  guests. 

The  residence  of  Mr.  Joseph  H.  Grafton,  Fourth  street, 
was  procured  for  this  purpose,  which  the  Governor,  with  his 
official  and  domestic  household,  and  military  staff,  occupied  as 
the  Executive  mansion  during  the  time  of  the  Celebration. 

The  courtesies  thus  extended  to  the  representatives  of 
other  States,  who  had  received  formal  and  official  invitations 
from  our  own,  added  much  to  the  pleasure  and  comfort  of  these 
guests. 

The  Governor,  as  Chief  Executive  of  the  State,  together 
with  his  honored  wife,  dispensed  such  official  civilities  as  would 
otherwise  have  been  impossible,  and  thus  greatly  increased  the 
interest  of  the  occasion. 

The  genial  welcome  given  at  the  official  residence,  and  the 
constant  presence  of  the  Governor  and  Mrs.  Foraker  at  every 
assembly,  gave  a  significant  grace  to  the  proceedings,  and  as  an 
animating  spirit  of  the  Celebration,  elicited  the  admiring  com 
ment  of  our  visitors  from  other  States. 

The  State  Reception  Committee  occupied  the  Waters  resi 
dence,  corner  of  Fourth  and  Woster  streets,  near  that  of  the 
Governor,  and  werfe  thus  enabled  to  extend  to  guests  other 
civilities  required. 


1 6  REPORT   OF   THE   COMMISSIONERS   OF   THE 

These  arrangements  were  extremely  fortunate,  for  although 
the  hospitality  of  the  people  was  unbounded,  yet  the  large 
number  of  official  and  distinguished  visitors  present  rendered 
these  arrangements  necessary  and  essential. 

In  the  person  of  the  Governor,  and  through  the  State  Re 
ception  Committee,  Ohio  greeted  and  welcomed  the  represen 
tatives  of  her  sister  States  in  a  manner  appropriate  to  the  oc 
casion,  gratifying  to  State  pride,  and  agreeable  to  the  comfort 
and  pleasure  of  our  guests. 

The  War  Department  of  the  United  States  Government, 
in  recognition  of  the  important  event  to  be  celebrated,  and 
through  the  request  of  the  lamented  Lieutenant-General  Sheri 
dan,  lately  deceased,  ordered  the  presence  of  a  company  of 
artillery  from  the  Newport,  Ky.,  Barracks^  and  the  Military 
Band  from  the  Columbus,  Ohio,  Barracks,  both  of  which  had 
their  encampment  in  tents  near  the  residence  of  the  Governor 
and  staff. 

The  ground  occupied  by  the  Government  troops  was  an 
elevated  square,  the  remains  of  the  ancient  race  of  Mound 
Builders,  and  known  in  the  civil  war  as  Camp  Tupper.  Near 
by  also,  the  National  Guard  of  Ohio  had  their  camping  ground, 
quartered  in  tents,  including  the  Putnam  Light  Artillery  Com 
pany,  of  Marietta,  O. 

The  management  deemed  it  essential  to  the  right  presen 
tation  of  the  Celebration,  that  the  music  for  the  occasion  should 
come  from  some  of  the  Northwestern  States,  and  were  ex 
tremely  fortunate  in  finding  the  desired  combination  of  musical 
talent  at  Elgin,  Illinois. 

As  the  cultivation  of  the  fine  arts  is  one  measure  of  pro 
gress  and  advance  in  civilization,  the  Elgin  band  of  forty-two 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  17 

pieces  proved  to  be  an  admirable  and  satisfactory  evidence  of 
such  advance  and  progress  during  the  century. 

The  Big  Six  Band  of  Springfield,  Ohio,  though  less  in 
numbers,  also  gave  satisfactory  evidence  of  great  proficiency  in 
their  art,  while  the  U.  S.  Military  Band  from  the  Columbus 
Barracks  afforded  extreme  pleasure  to  the  throngs  of  people 
who  filled  the  streets. 

The  decorations  throughout  the  town  were  very  profuse 
and  elaborate.  All  the  public  buildings  were  made  conspicuous 
with  festoons  of  bunting,  with  numberless  flags  and  shields 
showing  the  coats-of-arms  of  the  different  States.  Long  lines 
of  suspended  flags  crossed  the  streets  in  all  directions.  The 
citizens,  with  friendly  rivalry,  vied  with  each  other  in  the  deco 
ration  of  private  residences,  store  buildings  and  manufactories.. 

Localities  of  historic  interest,  such  as  "Campus  Martius," 
where  the  first  court  was  held,  and  early  settlers  lived  and  werew 
protected  during  the  Indian  war,  the  site  of  "  Muskingunr 
Acadamy,"  the  first  educational  institution  established  in  the 
Territory,  the  landing-place  of  the  pioneers,  the  site  of  the  old! 
fort  at  Point  Harmar,  the  old  church  building  erected  by  the 
first  religious  society  of  Marietta,  the  "  Picketed  Point ''  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  town,  now  covered  with  business  blocks,  the 
first  brick  house  erected  in  the  Territory  as  a  residence,  were 
all  designated  by  flags  and  descriptive  placards,  as  were  also 
the  pre-historic  earthworks. 

Arches  were  erected,  one  at  the  foot  of  Front  and  the 
other  at  the  intersection  of  Putnam  and  Front  streets,  each 
spanning  the  entire  street  and  gaily  decorated  with  evergreens, 
flags,  bunting  shields,  and  significant  mottoes. 

2  C.  B. 


1$  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

The  fire-works  provided  for  the  occasion  consisted  of  a 
pyrotechnic  display,  by  which  many  of  the  memorable  events  in 
our  early  history  were  vividly  portrayed  from  boats  moored  in 
.the  Ohio  and  Muskingum  Rivers. 

Among  the  scenes  represented  were,  "  The  landing  of  the 
Mayflower  with  forty-eight  pioneers;"  "Portrait  of  General 
Arthur  St.  Clair ;  "  Tableaux,  Louise  St.  Clair  on  horseback 
with  the  Indians  ;  "  "  Portrait,  General  Rufus  Putnam  ;  "  "  Por 
trait,  General  Tupper." 

There  being  no  building  large  enough  for  the  purpose,  the 
management  caused  to  be  erected  a  "Centennial  Hall,'*  which 
was  located  at  the  place  where  the  ceremony  of  the  establish 
ment  of  civil  government  occurred,  as  given  in  Dr.  S.  P.  Hild- 
reth's  Pioneer  History,  page  215.  "The  I5th  of  July,  as  ap 
pears  from  the  journal  of  Paul  Fearing,  was  agreed  on  for  his 
first  appearance  before  the  citizens  of  the  Territory.  At  five 
o'clock  P.  M.,  he  came  over  from  Fort  Harmar  in  the  govern 
ment  barge,  escorted  by  the  officers  of  the  garrison,  and  the 
Secretary,  Winthrop  Sargent,  Esq.  He  was  received  in  the 
bowery  by  General  Putnam,  the  judges  of  the  Territory  and 
the  principal  inhabitants  of  the  new  colony. 

"  The  Secretary  read  the  ordinance  of  Congress  forming  the 
Northwest  Territory,  the  Governor's  commission,  the  judges 
and  his  own.  'He  was  then  congratulated  on  his  welcome 
arrival  at  the  seat  of  government  by  General  Putnam,  and  three 
cheers  closed  the  ceremonies  of  the  day." 

The  following  contemporaneous  evidence  of  eye  witnesses 
verifies  the  above  statement : 


"July  9,  1788.     Governor  St.  Clair  arrived  at  garrison.     On  landing,  he  was 
saluted  with  thirteen  rounds  from  the  field  piece.     On  entering  the  garrison  the 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  19 


music  played  a  salute ;  the  troops  paraded  and  presented  their  arms.  He  was 
also  saluted  by  a  clap  of  thunder  and  heavy  shower  of  rain  as  he  entered  the 
fort ;  and  thus  we  received  our  Governor  of  the  Western  frontiers." — [Journal  of 
Joseph  Buell,  at  Fort  Harmar,  1788.] 

"July  9>  1788.  This  was,  in  a  sense,  the  birthday  of  the  western  world.  Gov 
ernor  St.  Claii  arrived  at  the  Garrison.  His  landing  was  announced  by  the  dis 
charge  of  fourteen  cannon  ;  all  rejoiced  at  his  arriving." 

"July  15,  1788.  At  four  o'clock  the  government  judges  came  over,  when 
their  commissions  were  read." 

"Juty  J7>  1788.  Friday  morning  I  waited  on  the  Governor  in  company 
with  Col.  Sproat  and  Mr.  Fearing,  as  committee  from  the  people,  with  an  answer 
to  his  address.  Was  received  most  graciously." — [Journal  of  Col.  John  May, 
Marietta,  N.  W.  Territory,  1788.] 

In  a  contemporary  account  published  at  Newport,  Rhode 
Island,  it  is  stated  :  "  His  Excellency  was  seated,  and  after  a 
short  interval  of  profound  silence,  arose  and  addressed  himself 
to  the  Assembly  in  a  concise  but  dignified  speech." 

The  speech  in  full  may  be  found  in  vol.  2,  page  53,  "St. 
Clair  Papers,"  by  Wm.  Henry  Smith,  Robert  Clarke  &  Co.,  pub 
lishers. 

"This,"  says  Smith,  "was  the  happy  beginning  of  five 
large  States,  which  have  controlled  to  a  greater  degree  than  any 
other  section,  the  destinies  of  the  republic.  *  *  *" 

This  Centennial  hall  was  a  temporary  wooden  structure, 
with  a  seating  capacity  of  about  five  thousand,  with  a  large 
elevated  stage,  occupying  about  one-third  of  the  interior,  so 
arranged  as  to  accommodate  : 

1.  The  designated  speakers. 

2.  Representatives  of  the  Executive,  Judicial  and  Legislative  Departments 
of  the  United  States  government,  and  the  Army  and  Navy. 

3.  Official  representatives  of  the  North-western  and  other  States  and  His 
torical  Societies. 

4.  Members  of  the  Executive,  Judicial  and  Legislative  departments  of  our 
own  and  other  States. 


2O  REPORT   OF   THE   COMMISSIONERS    OF   THE 

5.  The  State  Reception  Committee  appointed  by  the  Legislature  and  Cen 
tennial  Commissioners. 

6.  Municipal  representatives  of  Marietta,  and  county  officials. 

7.  Distinguished  guests. 

8.  Musicians,  stenographers,  reporters  for  the  press,  etc. 

For  the  lighting  of  the  building  temporary  arrangements 
were  made  for  the  use  of  electricity,  and  the  electric  lighting 
also  extended  to  the  streets  leading  to  the  hall. 

The  decorations  of  the  hall  were  made  with  special  refer 
ence  to  the  occasion,  and  indicated  the  North-western  States 
by  means  of  emblems  and  designs ;  together  with  appropriate 
recognition  of  the  original  thirteen  states  in  the  compact  em 
bodied  in  the  "Ordinance  of  1787."  The  National  importance 
of  the  occasion  was  also  duly  emphasized  by  a  decorative  ref 
erence  to  each  of  the  States  now  comprising  the  Union ;  and 
the  whole  was  held  in  closer  compact  by  the  significant  su 
premacy  of  the  Nation's  flag  surmounting  and  enfolding  all. 

Notwithstanding  the  evident  wish  of  the  people  of  Marietta 
to  be  hospitable,  the  care  of  the  large  numbers  who  might  be 
expected  to  attend  was  always  a  subject  of  grave  and  burden 
some  importance  to  those  having  in  charge  the  celebration. 

The  burden  was  lightened  and  problem  solved  by  the  most 
efficient  and  careful  arrangements  and  resulting  service  of  the 
five  lines  of  railroads,  together  with  the  numerous  steamboats 
plying  on  the  Ohio  and  Muskingum  rivers. 

This  rendered  possible  the  going  and  coming  of  the  esti 
mated  number  of  seventy  to  eighty  thousand  people  in  attend 
ance  during  the  time  of  the  celebration.  Towns  and  villages 
twenty-five  to  fifty  miles  distant  were  thus  made  easy  of  access 
for  food  and  shelter. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  21 

Committees  were  appointed  in  the  different  townships  of 
Washington  county  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  and  preparing 
written  statements  of  the  early  settlement  and  subsequent  his 
tory  of  each. 

This  work  has  been  done,  and  the  facts  thus  happily  rescued 
from  oblivion  will  be  preserved  for  future  use. 

As  so  much  of  the  work  of  preparation  for  this  celebration 
was  done  by  women,  it  seems  proper  to  give  in  this  report  some 
account  of  the  "  Women's  Centennial  Association  of  Washing 
ton  county,"  which  had  been  organized  in  the  fall  of  1886,  for 
"  promoting  in  any  way,  which  the  Association  shall  deem  ad 
visable,  the  commemoration  of  the  settlement  at  Marietta  and 
the  establishment  of  civil  government  in  the  Northwest  Terri 
tory." 

With  the  characteristic  energy  of  women  associated  to 
gether  for  benevolent,  charitable  or  praiseworthy  purposes,  im 
mediate  action  was  taken,  and  over  one  thousand  dollars  was 
secured  and  devoted  to  the  celebration  of  the  Pioneer  Associa 
tion  in  April,  and  a  somewhat  less  amount  was  contributed  to 
that  of  July  15. 

While  the  financial  aid  thus  extended  was  most  welcome, 
yet  the  work  of  stimulating  and  promoting  a  patriotic  senti 
ment  throughout  the  whole  community,  and  recalling  the  debt 
of  gratitude  and  sense  of  obligation  due  to  pioneers  and  early 
settlers  of  our  common  country,  was  by  far  the  most  important 
result  accomplished  by  this  Association. 

This  patriotic  work  was  most  actively  prosecuted  from  the 
time  of  its  organization.  Public  meetings  were  held  in  differ 
ent  parts  of  the  county,  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  creating  a 
sentiment  favorable  to  a  Centennial  celebration,  to  change  a 


22  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

anguid  indifference  to  one  of  interest  and  enthusiasm.  The 
interest  of  the  women  and  children  was  solicited  and  largely 
gained.  These  soon  carried  with  them  the  whole  family. 

Quantities  of  the  buckeye,  our  State  emblem,  were 
gathered  and  sent  in,  to  be  used  as  a  decoration  in  public  places 
and  worn  as  personal  ornaments,  and  after  the  Celebration  were 
carried  home  as  keepsakes  and  mementoes.  Basket  picnics, 
fairs  and  amusements,  making  prominent  the  early  incidents  of 
pioneer  history,  were  effective  in  bringing  the  people  together 
by  a  common  sentiment. 

A  cookery  book  was  compiled  and  edited  with  great  care 
by  a  committee  of  ladies,  from  original  and  well  tried  recipes 
furnished  by  the  different  families  throughout  the  county,  rep 
resenting  and  thus  preserving  all  that  was  accredited  and  ap 
proved  in  the  art^during  the  century. 

An  edition  of  one  thousand  was  printed,  the  profits  of 
which  became  a  part  of  the  Centennial  funds. 

Mrs.  Martha  J.  Lamb,  of  New  York,  editor  of  the  Maga 
zine  of  American  History,  and  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Livermore,  of 
Massachusetts,  were  present  as  the  honored  guests  of  the 
Women's  Association. 

The  "  Historical  Pageant "  had  a  more  direct  centennial 
character  than  any  other  work  of  the  Women's  Association. 

The  plan  was  formed  with  careful  historical  accuracy  by 
those  who  had  received  and  faithfully  kept  from  childhood  the 
local  traditions  of  the  fathers.  Selections  were  made  of  those 
known  to  resemble  the  characters  to  be  personated,  either  in 
feature,  stature  or  other  marked  particulars,  and  in  many  cases 
from  actual  descendants.  In  many  families  there  still  existed 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  23 

precious  heirlooms  of  clothing  and  personal  ornament,  which, 
for  the  occasion,  were  brought  forth  and  worn  by  the  grand 
children  and  great  grandchildren  of  those  whose  worthy  lives 
were  to  be  thus  commemorated  and  illustrated. 

Of  the  costumes  thus  preserved,  only  the  finer  and  more 
valuable  appeared.  The  rich  silk  and  heavy  satin  whose  soft 
textures  and  brilliant  colors,  even  a  century  of  time  had  not 
changed,  were  now  worn  in  the  quaint  and  curious  fashions  of 
a  hundred  years  ago,  by  youths  and  maidens  of  the  present 
day,  and  were  shown  to  the  best  advantage  in  the  endless- 
figures  and  mazes  of  the  grand  march. 

The  last  scene,  the  "  party  at  Blennerhassett's,"  wherein  the 
old-fashioned  dance,  the  "  minuet,"  occurred,  accompanied  by 
appropriate  music  by  the  band,  produced  a  charming  picture 
of  youthful  beauty  and  grace. 

The  "  Historical  Pageant "  was  witnessed  by  our  Centen 
nial  guests  on  Tuesday  evening,  July  17.  Unusual  commenda 
tions  were  elicited,  and  the  Ohio  Centennial  Commissioners  of 
the  Cincinnati  Exposition  called  for  its  repetition  in  that  city 
in  October  following,  where  also  it  was  repeated  a  second  and 
third  time,  with  large  and  ever  increasing  attendance. 

The  programme  was  as  follows : 


HISTORICAL  f/\QE/\NT. 

CENTENNIAL  UALI JULY  17,  1888. 

PROGRAMME. 

Programme  of  Grand  March — Music  by  Elgin  Band. 

Columbus George  Grafton. 

Isabella Alice  Waters. 

John  Smith J.  B.  Wheatley, 

Pocahontas  Mrs.  Wheatley. 

Hudson  Russell  Cooke. 

Mrs.  Hudson. Willia  Cotton. 

John  Alden Hiram  Shaw. 

Priscilla  Anna  McCoy. 

William  Penn Tom.  Sheets. 

Anne  Fox Catharine  Wheatley. 

George  Washington Fred.  Wittlig. 

Martha  Washington Mrs.  James  Nye. 

LaFayette  Dr.  McKim. 

Marie  Antoinette ; Dode  Pattin. 

Celeron  DeBrienville August  Schmidt. 

Rev.  Joseph  DeBonnecamp Willie  Goldsmith. 

Major-Gen.  Israel  Putnam Rollo  Putnam. 

Miss  Oliver Letha  Putnam. 

Captain  Pipe Will  Dana. 

Indian  Princess Grace  Dana. 

Indian  Brave Howard  Dickinson. 

•Indian  Princess  Lucinda  Bohl. 

Indian  Brave Charles  Ward. 

Indian  Girl  ' Helen  Bukey. 

Major  Haffield  White Dr.  C.  S.  Conner. 

Mrs.  Captain  McCurdy Sada  Ames. 

Major  Zeigler Leroy  Protsman. 

Captain  Strong John  Scott. 

•Captain  Monroe Clarence  Humes. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  .        25 


Mrs.  James  Owens Alice  Ketter. 

General  Harmar Beman  Dawes. 

Mrs.  Harmar ; Elsen  Nye. 

Captain  William  Mason Cornelius  Wells. 

Captain  Jonathan  Devol S.  J.  Hathaway. 

Colonel  R.  J.  Meigs Charles  Mills. 

Mrs.  Meigs Enid  Warner. 

Major  Winthrop  Sargent  Dr.  Curtis. 

Rowena  Tupper Kittie  Nye. 

General  Benj.  Tupper H.  W.  Craig. 

Mrs,  Tupper „ Rebecca  Nye. 

Colonel  Ichabod  Nye  Fred.  Moore. 

Mrs.  Nye Winifred  Curtis. 

Hon.  Paul  Fearing Wm.  Ebinger. 

Miss  Sheppard  Cornelia  Wehrs. 

Hon.  Archibald  Crary Walter  Beach. 

Miss  Coburn Flora  Warner. 

Governor  St.  Clair A.  D.  Follett. 

Miss  Goodale  Lola  Lockwood. 

Edward  Tupper John  Garry. 

Louise  St.  Clair  Mrs.  Geo.  McDonald. 

General  Samuel  H.  Parsons Will  Eells. 

Miss  Sheffield Julia  Minshall. 

Major  Anselm  Tupper Arthur  Beach. 

General  Rufus  Putnam L.  M.  Skinner. 

Rev.  Manasseh  tCutler Leonard  Twinam. 

Miss  Green  Laura  Wilson. 

General  James  M.  Varnum F.  E.  Crawford. 

Miss  Goodale  Waldine  Rathbone. 

Wm.  Maxon  Stephen  Hildreth. 

John  Mathews D.  G.  Mathews. 

Gilbert  Devol George  Gear. 

Oliver  Dodge  Leonard  Shaw. 

Augustus  Stone Putnam  Lucas. 

Mrs.  Lake  Clara  Brooker. 

Colonel  Ebenezer  Sproat Homer  Morris. 

Lydia  Moulton Minnie  McMillen. 

Henderson B.  F.  Strecker. 

Anna  Moulton  Cora  Stewart. 

Rogers Frank  Hagan. 

Madame  Thiery  Mrs.  W.  G.  Barthalow. 

Mr.  Moulton M.  M.  Rose. 

Mrs.  Moulton Mrs.  Rose. 

Indian  Brave.... Bion  Guyton. 


26  REPORT   OF   THE    COMMISSIONERS   OF   THE 


Indian  Girl Cora  Hogan. 

Indian  Brave George  Schad. 

Non-Commissioned  Officer Lee  Miraben. 

Soldier  from  Garrison Emmet  Coleman. 

"  " James  Finch. 

"  "         Charles  Smith. 

"  "         Charles  Bailey. 

"  "         O.  D.  Brown. 

"  "         Myron  Browning. 

Blennerhassett Addison  Kingsbury. 

Mrs.  Blennerhassett Miriam  Fell. 

Aaron  Burr Will  Waters. 

Theodosia  Burr Mary  Oldham. 

Aaron  Waldo  Putnam James  Devol. 

Mrs.  Putnam Anna  Wheatley. 

Captain  Benj.  Miles James  McMaster. 

Mrs.  Miles Lola  Hodkinson. 

Captain  William  Dana Laurence  Buell. 

Mrs.  Dana Nannie  Hodkinson.. 

Mrs.  Peregrine  Foster „ Florence  Dale. 

Captain  Jonathan  Stone Kent  Loomis. 

Mrs.  Stone Carol  Nye. 

Dr.  Joseph  Spencer George  M.  Cooke. 

Mrs.  Spencer Rowena  Buell. 

General  Joseph  Buell Donald  Hart. 

Mrs.  Buell ..  Maria^uell. 

Judge  Isaac  Pierce.., , George  Summers^. 

Mrs.  Pierce  ..  ,.  Laura  Devol. 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.        2J 


Jableaxjx. 


TABLEAU  I. 


Landing  of  the  French  at  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum,  on  the  west  point* 
August  1 6,  1749. 

The  French  Government,  which  held  possession  of  the  Northwestern  Ter 
ritory,  often  sent  out  troops  for  the  purpose  of  inspecting  and  examining  their 
domain.  In  the  year  1749,  Roland  Michel  Barrin,  Marquis  de  la  Gallissoniere, 
Governor-General  of  Canada,  sent  out  Celeron  de  Brienville  with  three  hundred 
men,  accompanied  by  Rev.  Joseph  Peter  de  Bonnecamp,  a  Jesuit,  as  Chaplain,  on 
a  tour  of  inspection. 

Coming  down  the  River  Ohio  from  Fort  Duquesne  they  pitched  their  camp, 
among  other  places,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  Muskingum  Rivers,  where 
they  also  buried  the  leaden  plate  found  in  1798.  During  this  journey  the  Chap 
lain  would  hold  services  for  troops  and  would  endeavor  to  preach  to  the  Indians, 
and,  if  successful,  establish  an  Indian  mission.  From  the  report  sent  to  Rome  by 
the  Chaplain  it  is  evident  that  he  held  the  divine  service  of  mass  at  said  place. 

SCENE. 

French  troops  landing — General  Celeron  de  Brienville  burying  the  leaden  - 
plate — Rev.  Joseph  Peter  de  Bonnecamp  preaching  to  the  Indians. 

MUSIC. 


TABLEAU  II. 

The  landing  of  General  Rufus  Putnam  on  the  east  point  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Muskingum,  with  forty-eight  pioneers. 

General  Benjamin  Tupper  having  visited  the  Ohio  country  in  1785,  upon  his 
return  to  the  east  went  directly  to  Rutland,  Mass.,  to  confer  with  General  Rufus 
Putnam  in  regard  to  the  forming  of  an  "  Association"  for  the  purchase  of  West 
ern  lands,  with  a  view  to  settlements  there.  As  a  result  of  this  conference  the 
"Ohio  Company"  was  formed  in  1786. 

April  7,  1788,  General  Rufus  Putnam,  as  Superintendent  of  the  affairs  of  the 
Ohio  Company,  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum  with  a  band  of  forty- 
eight  pioneers.  They  landed  on  the  east  point,  at  what  is  now  Marietta,  about 


28  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


noon.     On  the  opposite  point  Fort  Harmar  had  been  built  (1785-1786),  and  was 
at  this  time  occupied  by  United  States  troops. 

At  this  time,  also,  Captain  Pipes,  chief  of  the  Delaware  Indians,  was  camped 
on  the  east  point,  with  about  seventy  of  his  tribe — men,  women  and  children. 

SCENE. 

General  Rufus  Putnam  landing  with  the  following  men  : 
Colonel  Ebenezer  Sproat,  Colonel  R.  J.  Meigs,  Major  Anselm  Tupper,  Mr. 
John  Mathews,  Surveyors  ;  Major  Haffield  White,  Quartermaster ;  Captains  Jon 
athan  Devol,  Josiah  Monroe,  Daniel  Davis,  Jethro  Putnam,  William  Gray,  Ezekiel 
Cooper ;  Peregrine  Foster,  Esq.,  Jarvis  Cutler,  Samuel  Gushing,  Oliver  Dodge, 
Isaac  Dodge,  Samuel  Felshaw,  Hezekiah  Flint,  Amos  Porter,  Josiah  Whitridge, 
John  Gardner,  Benj.  Griswold,  Elizur  K.  Kirtland,  Theophilus  Leonard,  Joseph 
Lincoln,  William  Miller,  Hezekiah  Flint,  Jr.,  Jabez  Barlow,  Daniel  Bushnell, 
Ebenezer  Corey,  Phineas  Coburn,  Allen  Putnam,  David  Wallace,  Joseph  Wells, 
Gilbert  Devol,  Jr.,  Israel  Danton,  Jonas  Davis,  Earl  Sproat,  Josiah  White,  Allen 
Devol,  Henry  Maxon,  Wm.  Maxon,  William  Moulton,  Edmund  Moulton,  Simeon 
Martin,  Benjamin  Shaw,  Peletiah  White,  William  Mason,  Captain  Pipes,  with  In 
dians,  and  Major  Ziegler  and  Captain  Strong,  officers  from  Fort  Harmar,  receiv 
ing  them. 

MUSIC. 


TABLEAU  III, 

The  First  Sunday-School — Mrs.  Mary  Lake — 1791. 

.  During  the  Indian  war,  early  in  1791,  Mrs.  Mary  Lake  observing  the  children 
-of  Campus  Martius  at  play  on  the  Sabbath,  invited  them  to  her  room  in  the 
northeast  block-house,  and  taught  them  the  Bible  and  the  Westminster  Catechism, 
This  Sunday-School  was  the  first  in  the  Territory,  and  one  of  the  three  first  in 

-the  United  States. 

9 

SCENE. 

The  children  seated  on  rude  benches  and  blocks  of  wood,  and  one  little 
fellow  perched  on  a  bag  of  meal.  Mrs.  Lake  is  teaching  the  children,  and  Mrs. 
James  Owen,  the  first  woman  who  came  to  the  settlement  in  1788,  is  visiting  the 
school.  The  children  known  to  have  been  members  of  the  school  were  Nancy 
Allison,  afterwards  Mrs.  Frost.  She  was  born  October  22,  1784,  and  is  still,  in 
.1888,  living  at  the  home  of  her  grandson,  near  Lowell,  Ohio. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  29* 


Horace  Nye,  Augustus  Stone,  Benjamin  F.  Stone,. 

Charles  Shipman,  Melzar  Nye,  Susan  Greene, 

Catherine  Putnam,  Cynthia  Flagg. 

'  MUSIC. 


TABLEAU  IV. 

In  anticipation  of  the  arrival  of  General  Arthur  St.  Clair,  the  newly  ap 
pointed  and  first  Governor  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  in  July,  1788,  a  number 
of  young  men  prepared  a  "  bowery,"  made  by  bending  young  trees  and  inter 
lacing  their  branches  overhead.  This  "  bowery,"  so  named  by  the  young  men, 
was  situated  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Muskingum  at  Marietta,  and  in  full  view  of 
Fort  Harmar.  In  this  "  bowery"  a  public  dinner  was  held  July  4,  1788.  On  the 
9th  of  July  General  St.  Clair  arrived  at  Fort  Harmar,  and  on  the  I5th  he  was 
publicly  installed  in  his  office  of  Governor,  by  fitting  ceremonies  at  the  '*  bowery." 

SCENE. 

General  St.  Clair,  escorted  by  the  officers  from  Fort  Harmar,  just  stepping 
from  the  government  barge,  which  had  conveyed  them  across  the  Muskingum — 
General  Rufus  Putnam,  and  General  Samuel  H.  Parsons,  General  James  Mitchell. 
Varnum,  the  newly  appointed  Judges,  Major  Winthrop  Sargent,  Secretary,  and 
the  principal  inhabitants  of  the  city  received  him — He  enters  the  "bowery"  near 
by,  and  his  commission  as  Governor  is  read — He  then  turns  to  address  the  people. 
Mrs.  General  Harmar,  Mrs.  Captain  McCurdy,  Mrs.  James  Owen  and  Miss  Louisa 
St.  Clair  are  represented. 

MUSIC. 


TABLEAU  V. 

The  first  Civil  Court  held  in  the  Northwest  Territory  under  United  States 
authority. 

On  the  second  day  of  September,  1788,  the  first  Judicial  Court  was  held  at 
Marietta.  A  procession  was  formed  at  the  "  Point,"  and  marched  to  Campus 
Martius,  nearly  a  mile,  in  the  following  order :  Colonel  Sproat,  Sheriff,  with 
sword  ;  citizens  ;  General  Harmar  and  other  army  officers  ;  members  of  the  Bar ;. 
Hon.  James  Mitchell  Varnum,  Hon.  Samuel  Holden  Parsons,  Territorial  Judges;. 
Gov.  St.  Clair  and  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler,  D.  D.;  General  Rufus  Putnam,  General 


3O  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


Benjamin  Tapper,  Colonel  Archibald  Crary,  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas.  Arriving  at  Campus  Martius  they  assembled  in  the  northwest  block 
house,  and  the  Judges  took  their  seats,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Cutler  invoked  the  Divine 
blessing. 

SCENE. 

Judges  Tupper,  Putnam  and  Crary  standing,  Sheriff  Sproat  reading  their 
commissions  to  them — Colonel  R.  J.  Meigs,  Clerk  of  the  Court,  sitting  at  a  table 
— Gov.  St.  Clair,  Dr.  Cutler,  and  Judges  Parsons  and  Yarnum  seated. 

MUSIC. 


TABLEAU  VI. 

The  first  wedding  in  Marietta,  February  6,  1/89.  Hon.  Winthrop  Sargent 
was  married  to  Miss  Rowena  Tupper,  daughter  of  General  Benjamin  Tupper. 
The  ceremony  was  performed  by  General  Rufus  Putnam. 

SCENE. 

General  Benjamin  Tupper  and  Mrs.  Huldah  Tupper,  Major  Sargent  and 
bride  (Miss  Tupper)-- Colonel  Ichabod  Nye,  Mrs.  Minerva  Nye  (sister  of  the 
bride),  Major  Anselm  Tupper  and  Edward  W.  Tupper,  brothers  of  the  bride. 

Guests — Gov.  St.  Clair,  Aaron  Waldo  Putnam,  Paul  Fearing,  Miss  Sheffield, 
two  Misses  Goodale,  Miss  Oliver,  Miss  Sheppard,  Miss  Greene  and  Miss  Coburn. 

MUSIC. 


TABLEAU  VII. 

Louise  St.  Clair,  the  belle  of  the  Territory,  and  her  lover. 

Miss  Louise,  daughter  of  Gov.  St.  Clair,  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  a 
handsome  and  well  educated  girl,  was  very  active  in  out-of-door  sports.  She 
used  to  hunt  with  bow  and  arrow,  and  was  a  daring  rider.  As  a  skater  she  sur 
passed  the  young  men.  It  is  said  that  she  used  to  go  out  to  meet  Mr.  Tupper 
and  ride  into  the  garrison  on  his  load  of  wood. 

SCENE. 

Miss  Louise  St.  Clair — Edward  W.  Tupper,  her  lover — Seven  admirers  of 
Miss  Louise — Hunter — Two  Indians. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  3! 

TABLEAU  VIII. 
Pioneer  life  at  the  fort. 

SCENE. 

Representing  life  in  a  new  country — Men  engaged  in  cutting  trees,  building 
cabins,  hunting  and  scouting — Women  stirring  mush,  spinning,  knitting,  rock 
ing  the  cradle,  etc. 

Pioneer  hunters'  and  Indian  costumes  are  notably  good  in  this  scene.  Before 
any  hostilities  occurred  in  the  settlement  at  Marietta,  military  men,  with  rangers 
and  spies,  were  stationed  at  different  points,  and  the  alarm-gun,  tired  in  case  of 
danger,  and  answered  from  Fort  Harmar  and  Campus  Martius.  Captain  Rogers 
and  Edward  Henderson  were  the-  first  two  employed  at  Campus  Martius,  two 
others  at  Fort  Harmar  and  two  in  the  garrison  at  the  point.  On  Sunday,  March 
13,  1791,  Rogers  and  Henderson  sallied  out  up  the  Muskingum  on  a  scout.  At 
nightfall,  on  returning,  and  when  within  a  mile  of  home,  two  Indians  rose  up 
from  behind  a  log  and  fired.  Rogers  being  first,  was  shot,  and  as  he  fell  Hen 
derson  attempted  to  support  him,  and  seeing  his  own  danger  turned  to  escape, 
.and  two  more  Indians  rose  up  and  fired. 

Henderson  escaped,  reaching  the  garrison  at  the  point  in  the  evening,  and 
gave  notice  of  the  fall  of  Rogers. 

The  alarm-gun  was  fired  and  answered  from  Fort  Harmar  and  Campus 
Martius.  The  news  spread,  the  people  rushed  to  the  block-house,  taking  their 
valuables. 

SCENE  I. 

Rogers  and  Henderson  scouting — Indians  in  ambush — Rogers  shot — Hen 
derson  escapes  and  reaches  the  garrison  with  the  news  of  his  companion's  fall. 

SCENE   2. 

The  alarm  is  given — Colonel  Sproat  the  first  person  to  seek  admittance  at 
the  Fort,  arrives  with  a  box  of  papers — Next,  soldiers  from  the  garrison — A 
woman  with  children — Wm.  Moulton,  Anna  Moulton,  Lydia  Moulton,  Mrs. 
Moulton  were  missing. — "  Is  she  killed  ?  "  "  No,"  said  Lydia,  "  mother  has 
stopped  to  put  things  a  little  to  rights." 

In  this  tableau  the  original  Campus  Martius  bell,  which  rang  the  alarm  in 
1791,  will  be  used. 

MUSIC. 


32  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

TABLEAU  IX. 
Blennerhassett's  fatal  decision. 

SCENE. 

Aaron  Burr  at  the  home  of  the  Blennerhassett's — Mrs.  Blennerhassett  joins 
with  him  in  persuading  Mr.  Blennerhassett  to  take  part  in  his  expedition — He 
consents,  and  is  ruined  in  consequence — Theodosia,  daughter  of  Aaron  Burr,  is 
present,  also  Blennerhassett's  sons,  Harman  and  Dominick. 

In  this  tableau,  furniture  which  belonged  to  the  Blennerhassett's  in  their 
beautiful  island  home  will  be  used. 

MUSIC. 


TABLEAU  X. 

Finale — A  party  at  Blennerhassett's,  with  "  Minuet." 

Guests — Aaron  Burr,  Theodosia  Burr,  Aaron  Waldo  Putnam,  Captain  Benja 
min  Miles,  Mrs.  Captain  Benjamin  Miles,  Captain  Wm.  Dana,  Mrs.  Captain  Wnu 
Dana,,  Mrs.  Peregrine  Foster,  Captain  Jonathan  Stone,  Mrs.  Captain  Jonathan 
Stone-,  Dr.  Joseph  Spencer,  Mrs.  Dr.  Joseph  Spencer,  General  Joseph  Buell,  Mrs~ 
General  Joseph  Buell,  Judge  Isaac  Pierce,  Mrs.  Judge  Isaac  Pierce. 

The  celebration  of  "  Pioneer  Day,"  July  19,  was  also  the 
work  of  the  Women's  Centennial  Association,  and  was  planned 
and  executed  by  a  committee  of  that  Association,  the  members 
of  which,  by  birth,  education  and  knowledge  of  local  history, 
were  peculiarly  fitted  to  guide  in  the  expression  of  a  very 
strong  and  general  enthusiasm  on  the  subject  of  pioneer  life  and 
traditions. 

A  committee  of  ladies,  wearing  buckeye  badges,  stood  at 
each  entrance  of  the  hall  to  meet  and  greet  all  guests,  but  par. 
ticularly  to  receive  and  care  for  the  older  people^. 

The  cordial  welcome  bestowed  was  met  by  as  cordial  a 
response,  uniting  to  promote  the  desire'd  sense  of  fellowship 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL   CELEBRATION. 


and  kinship.  The  venerable  men  and  women,  whose  grey  hairs 
were  conspicuous  features  in  each  audience,  formed  a  large  pro 
portion  of  this  one,  which  filled  the  hall,  and  contributed  dig 
nity  and  solemnity  to  exercises  intended  to  honor  their  near 
ancestors,  the  early  settlers  of  this  land. 

In  many  ways,  these  descendants  themselves,  now  grown 
old,  expressed  hearty  satisfaction  in  this  tribute  to  their  honored 
dead.  Their  gratification  and  the  sociability  of  the  occasion 
accomplished  one  important  object  of  the  meeting.  In  early 
life  many  of  the  aged  men  and  women  present  had  heard  the 
thrilling  tales  of  pioneer  experience  told  by  the  actors,  who 
had  taken  part  in  the  events  now  being  celebrated  —  their 
grandparents,  of  whom  history  now  is  making  honorable  men 
tion  —  heroes  worthy  of  homage,  as  right  and  proper  men  to 
found  a  State  and  establish  homes;  through  whose  "high 
thinking  and  plain  living  "  we  now  inherit,  not  only  our  civil 
institutions,  but  those  nearer  and  not  less  invaluable,  the  do 
mestic  influence  of  pure  and  honorable  homes. 

The  programme,  which  provided  for  many  short  speeches 
by  old  men,  or  by  those  representing  pioneer  families,  was 
necessarily  curtailed  for  want  of  time. 

The  chair  for  the  presiding  officer  and  chief  speaker  of 
the  occasion,  General  Thomas  Ewing,  was  profusely  decorated 
with  buckeyes.  The  many  little  boys  serving  as  pages  for  the 
committee  throughout  the  audience,  contributed  a  pleasing 
effect  of  color  and  youth,  all  proudly  wearing  red  scarfs^ 
bearing  in  prominent  gilt  letters  the  distinctive  legend,., 

"'  Buckeye  boy." 
3  c.  P, 


34  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

The  printed  report  will  preserve  the  spoken  addresses,  but 
that  indefinable  pioneer  spirit  which  pervaded  this  assembly, 
and  separated  it  from  all  others,  can  only  be  known  to  those 
who  were  present  and  felt  its  inspiration. 

The  Relic  Department  of  the  Celebration  was  placed  in 
charge  of  a  committee  from  the  Women's  Association.  These 
ladies  so  discharged  their  duties  as  to  render  this  department 
one  of  the  most  interesting  and  important.  Correspondence 
was  begun  with  all  the  old  families  in  Washington  and  adjoin 
ing  counties,  as  well  as  West  Virginia. 

A  special  agent  was  afterward  sent  with  instructions  to  call 
in  person,  and  after  investigation  and  inspection,  to  explain  the 
wants  and  objects  of  the  committee.  By  this  means  was 
brought  together  the  largest  and  most  comprehensive  collection 
of  old  heirlooms  illustrating  the  life  of  generations  now  past 
and  gone,  ever  before  seen  in  Ohio. 

They  were  placed  in  the  large  armory  building  on  Putnam 
street,  between  Second  and  Third,  which  had  been  fitted  up 
for  that  purpose. 

The  non-commercial-  aspect  of  the  Celebration  is  well 
shown  by  the  fact  that  no  charge  was  made  for  the  exhibition 
of  these  relics  thus  brought  together  with  so  much  labor  and 
expense. 

Thousands  freely  entered  the  Relic  Room,  which  was  open 
at  all  times,  and  were  instructed  by  the  innumerable  objects 
worthy  of  careful  study  and  attention. 

At  the  request  of  the  managers  of  the  Cincinnati  Exposi 
tion,  almost  the  entire  collection  was  removed  to  that  city,  and 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.        35 

remained  until  the  close  of  the  Exposition  several  months 
later,  attracting  unusual  attention  from  antiquarians  and  all 
who  were  interested  in  the  life  of  the  early  settlers. 

The  Women's  Centennial  Association  is  intended  to  be  a 
permanent  organization,  and  realizing  the  value  of  this  col 
lection,  now  and  ever  increasing,  have  begun  a  systematic 
effort  for  their  collection  and  preservation  in  a  fire-proof  Me 
morial  Hall. 

A  probable  Congressional  appropriation  for  a  "  Monu 
mental  Structure"  at  Marietta,  renders  this  undertaking  all  the 
more  important. 

A  list  of  the  relics  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix. 

The  United  States  Government,  recognizing  the  historical 
importance  and  significance  of  the  proposed  celebration,  by  an 
adequate  appropriation,  made  possible  an  exhibit  of  historical 
documents  and  other  .material  in  the  various  departments  of 
the  government,  which  added  greatly  to  the  interest  of  the 
occasion. 

This  exhibit  was  placed  in  the  audience  room  of  the  city 
hall  building,  and  was  visited  by  thousands  whose  interested 
presence  testified  to  the  value  of  this  public  exhibition  of  the 
treasures  of  the  State  and  other  departments  of  the  govern 
ment. 

The  different  departments  were  represented  by  the  follow 
ing  persons  in  charge  : 

State  Department — Houghwort  Howe. 
Smithsonian    Institution    and    National    Museum — W.   V. 
Cox. 


36  REPORT   OF   THE   COMMISSIONERS   OF   THE 


National  Museum,  Department  of  Navigation  and  Trans 
portation — J.  R.  Watkins. 

In  the  exhibit  of  the  State  Department  appeared  the 
original  treaties  between  the  United  States,  France  and  Eng 
land  and  other  countries,  bearing  the  original  signatures  of  the 
contracting  parties.  These,  together  with  the  diplomatic  cor 
respondence  with  other  nations,  and  many  State  papers  and 
documents  relating  to  the  early  history  of  the  country,  were  of 
the  greatest  value  and  interest. 

This  was  the  first  occasion  upon  which  many  of  these  val 
uable  documents  had  been  allowed  to  be  withdrawn  from  the 
place  of  safe  deposit  in  the  Department  of  State. 

An  itemized  report  of  the  Government  Exhibit,  as  made 
to  the  Department  at  Washington,  will  be  found  in  the  Ap 
pendix,  and  is  of  great  interest. 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.        37 


TKe  Celebration  Proper. 


celebration  began  on  Sunday,  July  15,  and  was  con 
ducted  with  a  dignity  and  solemnity  befitting  the  occasion  and 
the  day. 

The  thousands  who  gathered  on  this  peaceful  Sabbath 
with  interest  in  the  most  vital  themes  of  human  welfare,  gave  a 
visible  illustration  of  the  result  and  outcome  of  the  memorable 
words  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  concerning  the  value  and  im 
portance  of  ""religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  to  good  gov 
ernment  and  the  happiness  of  mankind." 

The  secular  part  of  the  celebration,  as  distinguished  from 
that  of  Sunday,  the  day  preceding,  began  by  a  salute  of  100 
guns  stationed  on  the  surrounding  hill-tops,  each  gun  being 
answered  from  another  opposite.  All  the  bells  of  the  city,  the 
booming  of  the  cannon,  together  with  whistles  of  locomotives 
and  steamboats  that  were  in  port,  combined  to  announce  to 
the  people  in  the  early  morning  the  joyful  fact  of  the  opening 
of  the  celebration  so  long  anticipated. 

The  civic  and  military  parade  occurred  at  9  o'clock  A.  M., 
and  was  led  by  the  Governor  and  staff,  mounted,  followed  by 
the  U.  S.  troops,  Ohio  National  Guard,  distinguished  guests  in 
carriages,  civic  societies  and  citizens. 


38  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

After  a  review  by  the  Governor,  who  was  stationed  nearly 
opposite  to  the  Centennial  Hall  in  front  of  the  former  residence 
of  Gov.  Meigs,  one  of  Ohio's  memorable  Governors,  the  pro 
gramme  was  continued  within  the  building. 

On  Wednesday  evening  occurred  the  public  reception  at 
the  Hall. 

The  large  elevated  stage  was  cleared  for  the  purpose  and 
occupied  by  the  distinguished  guests,  speakers,  representatives 
from  other  States  and  historical  societies,  officials,  civil  and 
military  of  the  United  States  and  State  of  Ohio,  and  the  State 
Centennial  Commission,  to  whom  were  presented  the  large 
numbers  assembled  desiring  to  pay  respect  and  honor  to  their 
presence.  Several  hours  were  thus  spent  in  agreeable  social 
intercourse. 

The  concert  by  the  Elgin  Band  was  given  Thursday  eve 
ning,  July  19. 

The  programme  is  herewith  given. 


Programme. 


PART   I. 

1.  DANCE — Polish Scharwenka. 

Arranged  by  J.  Hecker. 

2.  OVERTURE— William  Tell Rossini. 

[Perhaps,  by  general  consent,  this  magnificent  work  has  become  the  most 
popular  of  all  the  various  standard  overtures.  Its  charming  effects  so  well  ex 
press  the  events  which  it  characterizes,  that  to  any  one  familiar  with  the  story  of 
Tell  in  his  struggle  for  liberty  and  the  final  overthrow  of  tyranny  in  Switzerland, 
the  death  of  Gessler  and  the  restoration  of  peace  and  prosperity,  these  events 
are  vividly  brought  to  mind ;  and  it  is  this  which  makes  its  presentation  especially 
popular  to  the  American  people.  This  tone-picture  opens  with  the  assembling  of 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION  39 


the  villagers  on  that  eventful  morning — the  arrival  of  Tell  and  his  son — the 
moaning  of  the  winds — the  almost  breathless  silence  of  the  assemblage  while  the 
dreadful  events  are  arranging — the  trumpets  sound — the  boy  is  safe,  and  the  vil 
lagers  join  in  gay  festivities  and  rejoicing  over  the  safe  delivery  of  their  beloved 
chief.] 

3.  EUPHONIUM  SOLO — Old  folks  at  home  (with  brilliant  variations),  Stewart. 

Mr.  McGregor. 

4.  VALSE — Die  Schwebenden  Geister Hecker. 

5.  HUNTING  SCENE — Descriptive Bucalossi. 

[The  morning  breaks  calm  and  peaceful — The  cock  crows — The  huntsman 
prepares  for  the  pleasures  of  the  chase — We  jump  into  our  saddles  and  the 
huntsman  sounds  a  merry  blast — The  parties  join  chorus — The  road  is  alive  with 
horsemen — The  chase — Barking  of  dogs — Full  cry — The  death — Returning  from 
the  chase.] 

PART   II. 

» 

1.  GRAND  SELECTION — Faust Gounod. 

[Embracing  the  grandest  productions  of  this  composer,  and  fully  represent 
ing  the  French  school.] 

2.  DESCRIPTIVE  FANTASIE — The  sleighride   Michaelis. 

Invitation  to  sleighride — The  start — Love  declaration  and  answer — On  the 
way  returning  home. 

3.  CORNET  SOLO — Blue  Bells  of  Scotland Hartman. 

Mr.  Salmon. 

4.  MEXICAN  DANCE — La  Media  Noche,  (Midnight) Arties. 

A  characteristic  composition,  arrranged  by  J.  Hecker. 

5.  FINALE — Always  Joyful,  (vocal)  

J.  Hecker,  Conductor. 


The  reception  by  Governor  and  Mrs.  Foraker  at  their  tem 
porary  residence  on  Friday  evening,  was  a  most  fitting  and 
agreeable  ending  of  their  visit  to  Marietta. 

Among  the  duties  devolved  upon  your  Commissioners  by 
the  terms  of  Senate  Joint  Resolution  No.  28,  was  this: 


40  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

"  Especially  to  have  in  charge  the  collection  of  historical  matter  in  connection 
with  such  Centennial,  and  the  event  it  is  to  celebrate,  for  use  in  such  commemo 
ration,  and  to  report  the  same,  together  with  a/w//  and  complete  account  of  such 
Celebration,  to  the  Governor,  for  use  of  the  General  Assembly  and  the  Bureau  of 
Statistics." 

As  a  partial  discharge  of  these  duties,  your  Commission 
ers  caused  a  literal  stenographic  report  to  be  made  of  all  the 
proceedings  of  each  session  of  the  five  days  exercises  held  in 
the  Centennial  Hall.  That  stenographic  report,  neatly  ex 
tended  in  type-writing,  is  adopted  as  a  part  of  this  report,  and 
will  be  transmitted  herewith. 

The  exercises  in  the  hall — music,  prayers,  ceremonies,  ora 
tions^  speeches,  reading  of  historical  papers,  odes,  poems,  etc., 
constituted  the  Celebration  proper.  Here  were  assembled  vast 
.audiences,  composed  of  the  people  of  Ohio  and  the  other 
.States  of  the  Northwest  Territory ;  and  here  were  gathered 
upon  the  great  stage  Governors  and  official  representatives  of 
.all  these  and  other  States,  eminent  divines,  foremost  statesmen 
of  the  land,  profound  jurists,  historians,  scientists,  orators, 
poets  and  journalists,  a  splendid  galaxy  of  great  men  and 
women;  men  and  women  whose  lives,  characters  and  achiev- 
ments  have  been  a  part  of,  and  have  guided  and  moulded  the 
progress  of  the  age.  Here  also,  were  the  descendants  of ^ the 
founders  of  this  great  empire  of  the  Northwest,  and  above, 
around  and  pervading  all,  was  the  spirit  of  patriotism,  which 
lent  eloquence  to  the  tongue  of  the  orator,  and  filled  the 
listening  throngs  with  enthusiastic  appreciation.  The  assem 
blage  was  worthy  the  occasion,  and  the  exercises  befittingly 
dignified,  while  always  pleasantly  vivacious. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  4! 

We  might  have  been  content  with  the  adoption  of  our 
stenographic  report  as  our  account  of  the  Celebration,  but  the 
full  account  required  by  the  joint  resolution  would  not  have 
been  complete  without  some  mention  and  description  of  the 
accessories,  which  afforded  so  appropriate  a  setting  for  the 
gems  of  the  celebration  proper.  For  this  it  is  we  have  dwelt 
at  some  length  upon  the  surroundings — the  military  display, 
the  decorations,  the  fire-works,  the  processions,  the  exquisite 
music,  the  collection  of  centennial  relics,  the  government  ex 
hibit,  the  electric  illuminations,  the  river  and  railway  transpor 
tation  facilities,  the  receptions,  concerts  and  historical  pageant, 
and  the  splendid  work  of  the  Women's  Association.  Among 
these  surroundings  were  some  of  the  finest  examples  of  a  cen 
tury's  progress. 

Fairly  interpreted,  the  legislative  intents,  as  expressed  in 
the  joint  resolution,  seemed  to  be,  that  at  the  end  of  the  first 
century  of  the  "  Northwest  "  under  civil  institutions,  we  should 
pause,  do  honor  to  the  establishment  of  these  institutions,  take 
a  retrospect  of  the  century,  and  gather  as  much  as  possible  of 
the  history  of  its  birth  and  progress,  for  transmission  to  those 
who  shall  pause  for  retrospection  at  the  next  mile-stone  in  the 
highway  of  the  centuries. 

The  trust  so  committed  to  us,  we  have  used  our  best  en 
deavor  to  execute.  Under  the  blessing  of  a  kind  Providence, 
we  have,  with  the  co-operation  of  the  good  workers  of  Mari 
etta's  "Committee  of  One  Hundred,"  the  fine,  executive  work 
of  our  managers,  William  H.  Buell.  James  W.  Nye,  and  Man 
ning  M.  Rose,  the  ability  and  earnestness  of  those  who  partici- 


42  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

pated  in  the  exercises,  and  the  patriotic  enthusiasm  of  the 
people,  achieved  a  success  quite  equal  to  the  most  sanguine  an 
ticipations. 

Most  respectfully, 

WM.  B.  LOOMIS,  Chairman, 
ANSELM  TUPPER  NVE,    V.  C., 
S.  M.  McMILLEN,  SeSy, 
JOHN  STRECKER,   Treas., 
THEO.  F.  DAVIS, 
L.  W.  ELLENWOOD, 
F.  F.  OLDIIAM, 

Ohio  State  Commissioners  for  Marietta  Centennial  Celebration.. 
MARIETTA,  O.,  December,  1888. 

NOTE. — Our  financial  report  of  the  expenditure  and  disbursement  of  the- 
State  appropriation  is  in  preparation,  and  will,  at  an  early  date  be  transmitted 
by  our  Treasurer  and  Secretary,  to  the  next  session  of  the  General  Assembly,  as- 
required  by  law. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION. 


OPENING  EXERCISES 

OF  THE 

CEHTEWWIJJL  CELEBRATION  sp  MA^IETT^,  ojlio, 


July  15  to  19,  1888. 


programme. 

Sunday,  July  15,  services  at  all  the  churches  in  the  city  at  10:30  A.  M.,  appro 
priate  to  the  occasion. 

AFTERNOON. 

At  3  o'clock  p.  M.,  services  at  Centennial  Hall,  Gov.  J.  B.  FORAKER  presiding. 

1.  Voluntary  by  Elgin  Band. 

2.  Centennial  Ode — Words  and  music  by  Prof.  H.  S.  Saroni — Chorus  and  Elgin 

Band. 

3.  Address,  "Religion  and  Civil  Government" — Right  Rev.  Bishop  Gilmour,  of 

Cleveland. 

4.  Doxology — "  Praise  God  from  Whom  all  Blessings  Flow" — Chorus  and  Con 

gregation. 

5.  Voluntary  by  Elgin  Band. 

Sunday  evening,  at  8  o'clock,  at  Centennial  Hall,  Gov.  J.  B.  Fc RAKER  presiding: 

1.  Anthem  by  the  Chorus — Composed  and  led  by  Prof.  H.  S.  Saroni. 

2.  Invocation — Rev.  T.  G.  Dickinson. 

3.  Hymn,  "  Coronation  " — Chorus  and  Congregation. 

4.  Address,  "  Influence  of  Education  in  Development  of  the  Northwest" — Pres 

ident  N.  J.  Morrison,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

5.  Hymn,  "Autumn" — Chorus  and  Congregation. 

6.  Brief  Address,  "  Some  Religious  Lessons  from  the  Century" — Rev.  George 

R.  Gear. 

7.  Brief  Address,  "  The  Early  History  of  Sunday  Schools" — Rev.  C.  E.  Dick 

inson. 

8.  Hymn,  "America" — Chorus  and  Congregation. 

9.  Benediction— Rev.  William  Addy,  D.  D. 


44  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERSTHE    OF    THE 


AFTERNOON  SESSION— Sunday,  July  13,   1888,  3  P.  M. 

The  exercises  of  the  afternoon  opened  with  a  voluntary 
by  the  Elgin  Band,  followed  by  the  Centennial  Ode,  sung  by  a 
chorus  accompanied  by  the  Elgin  Band ;  words  and  music 
composed  by  Prof.  H.  S.  Saroni. 

Governor  J.  B.  Foraker,  presiding,  in  introducing  the  Rt. 
Rev.  Bishop  Gilmour,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  then  said : 


/\ddress  of  Hor\.  J.  B.  ForaUer. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMKN:  We  are  met  here  on  an  interesting  spot  and  an 
interesting  occasion — not  so  much,  however,  because  what  is  transpiring  here 
this  afternoon  as  by  reason  of  what  happened  here  one  hundred  years  ago.  It 
was  on  this  identical  spot,  at  that  time,  that  our  first  civil  government  was  insti 
tuted.  Here,  at  that  time,  Arthur  St.  Clair  and  his  associates  in  the  administra 
tion  of  our  territorial  government,  were  inaugurated  and  inducted  into  office. 
Here  they  commenced  their  labors.  From  this  spot  went  forth  the  blessings  of 
government  that  the  millions  of  people  have  enjoyed  who  have  since  populated 
our  Great  Northwest. 

The  century  that  has  since  passed  is  the  most  brilliant,  measured  by  the  pro 
motion  of  human  welfare,  that  has  ever  been  known  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
Brilliant,  because  during  this  century  mankind  has  been  everywhere  elevated — 
not  simply  in  Ohio,  the  Northwest,  and  the  United  States,  but  throughout  the 
whole  civilized  world  this  has  been  the  case. 

Every  student  of  history  knows  that  this  has  been  largely  due  to  the  success 
that  has  been  achieved  by  self-government  in  these  United  States.  Our  success 
here  has  been  an  encouragement,  an  inspiration,  not  only  to  us  but  to  the 
millions  of  Europe  as  well,  and  all  here  who  have  participated  in  what  has  been 
wrought  know  and  appreciate  that  our  success  has  been  largely  due  to  the  fact 
that  our  institutions  were  founded  in  the  beginning  and  have  ever  since  been 
maintained  upon  religion  as  one  of  their  chief  corner-stones. 

Our  forefathers  broaght  religion  with  them  from  England.  They  carried  it 
with  them  through  the  struggles  for  American  Independence.  They  brought  it 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  45 


to  the  Northwest  Territory.  They  wrote  it  in  the  Ordinance  of  1787  that  reli 
gion,  among  other  things,  was  essential  to  good  government. 

We  have  prospered  and  succeeded  as  we  have  because  we  have  recognized 
religion  in  all  our  public  governments  and  affaiis.  It  is,  therefore,  with  eminent 
propriety  that  the  gentlemen  having  this  occasion  in  charge,  have  provided  as 
the  first  address  to  which  you  will  be  called  upon  to  listen,  one  that  has  the  dual 
subject  of  religion  and  self-government. 

They  have  invited  a  distinguished  citizen  of  our  State,  a  distinguished  divine, 
who  is  present,  to  discuss  this  subject  to  you;  and  I  now  have  the  pleasure  and 
honor  of  introducing  to  you,  as  the  orator  of  this  afternoon,  the  Right  Rev.. 
Bishop  Gilmour,  of  Cleveland.  [Applause.] 


Address  of  pigKt  Re\A  BisKop    Qiln\o\jrr 


OF  CLEVELAND. 


RELIGION  AND  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT. 

KIND  FRIENDS,  FELLOW-CITIZENS:  Interesting  though  the  event  which 
calls  us  together  may  be  in  itself,  also  the  pleasure  that  we  must  necessarily  feel 
in  going  back  in  spirit  a  hundred  years  to  contemplate  and  consider  the  men  and 
women  who  on  this  fair  spot  began  a  new  home  and  a  new  civilization,  yet  there 
is  a  mightier  and  a  greater  thought  underlying  our  presence  here. 

It  is  not  merely  the  pleasure  that  we,  as  citizens,  have  in  considering  the 
bravery  and  the  courage  of  those  who  came  and  planted  here  the  germs  of  that 
development  which  we  to-day  are  enjoying;  but  it  is  the  thought  that  beyond 
them,  beyond  us,  there  is  a  grand,  a  mighty  future  for  a  great  and  mighty  people. 

When  the  struggle  for  independence  ended  in  the  separation  from  the  mother 
country,  we  sprang  into  being  as  a  nation  without  a  realization  of  our  power  or 
knowledge  of  the  great  and  enormous  future  that  was  before  us,  far  less  could  we 
have  attempted  to  predict  the  wonderful  scene  we  to-day  behold. 

The  hardy  pioneers,  brave  and  determined  men,  who  came  into  this  un 
developed  territory  with  scarce  the  consciousness  of  its  immensity,  and  with  no- 
possible  conception  of  its  future,  within  the  space  of  one  hundred  years,  can  see 
from  their  place  on  High  millions  upon  millions  tread  its  soil,  and  millions  upon 
millions  rejoice  to  be  a  part  of  this  great  and  wonderful  land  ;  and  not  only  re- 


46  REPORT   OF    THE   COMMISSIONERS    OF     THE 


joice  to  be  a  part  thereof,  but  prepared,  at  whatever  cost,  to  hand  it  down  to 
future  generations. 

Where  the  forest  stood  you  have  now  smiling  abundance.  Where  the  smoke 
of  the  wigwam  curled,  you  have  cities  with  their  hundreds  of  thousands.  Where 
the  foot  of  the  white  man  had  not  yet  tread,  you  have  millions  rejoicing  in  their 
new  found  homes. 

We  have  attempted  in  this,  our  country,  the  untried  problem  of  making  man 
his  own  ruler;  of  trusting  to  the  judgment  and  wisdom  of  the  people.  So  far 
we  have  not  failed.  So  far  confidence  has  not  been  misapplied.  So  far  we  have 
proved  to  the  world  that  man,  guided  by  God's  law,  is  capable  of  governing  him 
self.  This  is  a  wonderful  success.  This  is  a  wonderful  lesson.  And,  as  has  been 
so  well  said  by  our  honored  Governor,  this  lesson  is  not  confined  to  America, 
but  stretches  far  beyond  the  limits  of  America,  and  thrills  into  the  hearts  and 
souls  of  man  beyond  our  seas.  It  has  bidden  man  hope,  bidden  man  believe 
there  is  a  possibility  of  man  living  under  a  government  of  the  people,  and  by  the 
people,  and  for  the  people.  It  is  not  only  this  thought  that  brings  us  here,  but 
in  it  we  go  beyond  to  this  great  and  mighty  nation  that  has  grown  up  here. 

Is  it  then  unfair,  or  is  it  out  of  place,  that  we  for  a  moment  consider  how 
much  God  should  be  a  part  of  our  thought,  and  how  steadily  we  should  learn  to 
lean  on  him  ? 

Great  though  we  have  shown  are  the  powers  of  man  when  guided  by  intel 
ligence,  magnificent  as  may  be  the  results  of  energy  and  determination,  yet  we 
all  know,  and  know  too  well,  man's  weakness,  man's  incompetency  for  himself. 
We  all  know  quite  well  how  unnecessary  it  is  to  have  a  power  greater  than  self 
in  whom  we  can  find  strength. 

The  history  of  the  world  is  that  those  nations  that  believed  in  their  gods,  and 
made  God  the  foundation  of  their  civil  life,  grew  and  strengthened  in  proportion 
to  the  vigor  and  strength  of  their  religion. 

•  We  in  this  country  started  in  colonial  days  with  strong,  intense  religious 
feeling.  We  grew  in  proportion  to  our  religious  strength,  and  we  built  our  con 
stitution  and  our  laws  upon  God.  It  was  that  that  made  us  from  the  beginning 
a  strong  people.  Though  to-day  we  sometimes  look  with  a  feeling  of  sneer 
against  the  contractedness  that  manifested  itself  in  the  early  religious  mind  of 
America,  yet  no  man,  looking  at  the  deep,  intense  religious  convictions  of  the 
colonists  but  must  be  impressed  with  the  profound  and  intense  earnestness 
with  which  these  men  leaned  upon  God  and  upon  God's  law.  When  the  fathers 
were  framing  our  constitution  they  rose  in  prayer,  and,  day  by  day,  with  an 
invocation  to  Him  who  is  the  source  of  wisdom,  prayed  that  they  might 
formulate  wisely  and  justly,  and  that  they  might  formulate  under  Him  and  for 
Him  and  for  the  people  who  were  to  be  blessed  under  th,e  constitution.  We  also, 
separating  Church  from  State,  saying  it  is  better  that  the  religious  wrangles  of 
sects  shall  not  be  mingled  in  our  civil  government,  having  recognized  God's  law, 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  47 


to  which  states,  communities  and  individuals  shall  be  subject.  It  is  well  that  we, 
from  time  to  time,  should  look  back.  It  is  well  that  we,  from  time  to  time, 
should  ask,  "Whence  the  cause  of  our  great  and  wonderful  success."  Therefore 
it  is  well  that  religion  should  have  had  a  part  in  this  great  and  important  cen 
tennial.  Therefore  is  it  fitting  that  religion  should  have  begun  these  exercises 
and  thus  recognize  that  God  is  the  power  on  which  society  is  built. 

We  therefore,  kind  friends,  are  called  upon  to  renew  to-day  our  fealty  to 
God.  We  are  a  Christian  people ;  and  though  we  have  agreed  that  no  particular 
sect  or  Church  or  dogma  shall  be  a  part  of  our  constitution,  yet  we  are  a  Chris 
tian  people.  We  are  not  only  a  Christian  people,  but  our  constitution  and  our 
laws  are  built  upon  Christian  laws,  and  our  great  moral  code,  the  hope  of  our  future, 
is  that  given  frcm  Mount  Sinai,  and  afterwards  confirmed  on  the  mount  by  Him 
before  Whom  we  all  bow  in  profoundest  reverence.  That  moral  code  constitutes 
the  basis  of  our  moral  legislation.  That  moral  code  enters  into  the  relation  of 
citizen  and  citizen.  That  moral  code  is  the  foundation  of  our  court  decisions. 
We  are  under  Christian  enlightenment  and  under  Christian  teaching ;  under 
Christian  morality  our  judges  rule.  "All  power  comes  from  God, and  they  that 
are  ordained  of  God,"  is  the  great  corner-stone  of  our  civilization. 

It  is  well  for  us,  fellow-citizens,  not  to  forget  our  dependence  upon  God. 

There  is  a  tendency  to-day  to  eliminate  God  from  society.  There  is  a  ten 
dency  to  overdo  the  separation  of  Church  and  State.  There  is  a  tendency  to 
overdo  separation  of  moral  and  religious  teaching  from  secular  teaching.  It  is 
well  for  us  calmly  to  look  the  matter  in  the  face. 

Is  it  wise  to  throw  man  back  upon  himself?  Is  it  wise  to  fritter  away  God's 
law  ?  Is  it  wise  to  eliminate  from  our  minds  the  thought  of  God  ? 

There  are  two  great  institutions,  the  civil  and  the  religious,  but  they  are  so 
blended,  one  with  the  other,  that  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  the  one  without  the 
other. 

Nay,  it  is  not  only  impossible  to  conceive  the  one  without  the  other,  but  so 
long  as  man  is  man,  so  long  shall  it  be  impossible  for  man  to  either  govern  him 
self  or  be  a  success  unless  under  the  guidance  of  religion.  Man's  soul  must  be 
cared  for  as  well  as  man's  body ;  and  the  relations  of  society  are  so  close  that  you 
cannot  conceive  the  one  without  the  other.  The  Church,  therefore,  has  a  posi 
tion  in  society.  The  pulpit  forms  a  part  of  civilization,  and  of  ours  pre-eminently, 
as  a  Christian  civilization.  But  while  the  pulpit  forms  a  part  of  our  civilization, 
the  State  also  forms  a  part.  But  a  State  without  religion  is  a  government  with 
out  morality,  without  God,  and  will  fail. 

Once  eliminate  morality  from  our  teaching,  once  eliminate  Christian  mor 
ality  from  our  law,  and  we  will  be  thrown  back  upon  paganism.  Paganism 
grew  and  prospered  in  the  development  of  the  principles  of  natural  justice,  and 
we  have  taken  the  good  that  was  in  pagan  civilization,  and  adding  to  it,  Christian 
teaching,  have  developed  into  the  position  we  hold.  It  is  therefore  fitting  that 


48  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


we  go  back  in  deepest  gratitude  to  the  men  who  first  landed  on  this  favored  and 
historic  spot,  and  there  contemplate  their  virtues,  and  the  lesson  they  gave,  and 
see  not  only  their  civil  but  their  religious  character.  When  they  framed  our 
constitution,  they  laid  down  as  a  permanent  principle,  that  morality  shall  be  an 
essential  for  the  exercise  of  citizenship. 

Morality — Christian  morality — morality  built  upon  God  and  Christian  law, 
finds  its  origin  in  God.  So  long  as  we  keep  before  our  eyes  Christian  morality 
and  Christian  law,  we  will  not  only  grow  in  material  prosperity  such  as  we  have, 
but  we  shall  grow  in  that  higher  and  greater  prosperity — moral  power,  which 
moves  the  world.  It  is  not  the  development  of  our  fields,  great  as  they  may  be; 
it  is  not  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  great  as  that  may  be;  but  it  is  the  moral 
power  of  the  people  living  in  the  light  of  Christian  truth  that  makes  us  great. 
It  is  for  us  to  see  that  Church  and  State  do  each  its  part,  and  do  it  fairly  and 
fearlessly,  and  each  respect  the  other's  rights.  It  is  for  us,  who  are  appointed  to 
teach,  to  speak  plainly  and  firmly,  "  God."  It  is  for  us  to  keep  God  before  the 
people.  It  is  for  us  to  preach  God  as  the  basis  of  our  life,  as  the  basis  of  our 
future  here  and  beyond  the  grave.  A  government  built  upon  God,  stands.  A 
government  built  upon  man  will  fall.  If  we  will  live  and  prosper  as  a  people, 
we  must  not  only  recognize  God,  but  live  in  the  light  of  his  law.  A  government 
without  God  must  die.  A  people  without  God  must  fall. 

It  will,  therefore,  be  entirely  appropriate  that  I,  as  the  representative  of 
religion,  and  the  representative  of  God,  our  ruler  and  our  director,  shall  ask  on 
this  occasion,  that  God  shall  bless  this  nation,  and  bless  this  people,  and  bless 
this  State  of  ours,  and  give  it  permanency  and  peace.  [Applause.] 

Gov.  FORAKER  :     The  blessings  of  God  will  now  be  in 
voked  in  prayer  by  Bishop  Waterson,  of  Columbus. 

PRAYER   BY   BISHOP   WATERSON. 

For  the  benediction  this  afternoon,  I  will  offer  the  prayer  that  was  com 
posed  by  Bishop  Carroll,  of  Baltimore,  a  hundred  years  ago,  that  Bishop,  who 
was  the  near  relative  of  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence: 

We  pray  Thee,  Oh,  Almighty  and  Eternal  God,  Who,  through  Jesus  Christ  . 
hast  revealed  Thy  glory  to  all  nations  to  preserve  the  works  of  Thy  mercy,  that 
Thy  religion,  being  spread  through  the  whole  world,  may  continue  with  unchang 
ing  faith,  in  the  confession  of  Thy  Holy  Name. 

We  pray  Thee,  Oh  God  of  might,  wisdom  and  justice,  through  whom  au 
thority  is  rightly  administered,  laws  are  enacted  and  judgment  decreed,  assist 
with  Thy  holy  spirit  of  counsel  and  fortitude,  the  President  of  this  United  States, 
that  his  administration  may  be  continued  in  righteousness,  and  be  eminently 
useful  to  Thy  people,  over  whom  he  presides,  by  encouraging  due  respect  for 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  49 


virtue  and  religion,  by  a  faithful  execution  of  the  laws  in  justice  and  mercy,  and 
by  a  restraining  of  vice  and  immorality. 

Let  the  light  of  Thy  Divine  Wisdom  direct  the  deliberation  of  Congiess, 
and  shine  forth  in  all  their  proceedings  and  laws  framed  for  our  rule  and  gov 
ernment,  so  that  they  may  tend  to  the  preservation  of  peace,  of  promotion  of 
national  happiness,  the  increase  of  industry,  sobriety  and  useful  knowledge,  and 
may  perpetuate  to  us  the  blessings  of  equal  liberty. 

We  pray  for  His  Excellency,  the  Governor  of  the  State,  for  the  members  of 
.Assembly,  for  all  judges,  magistrates,  and  other  officers  who  are  appointed  to 
guard  our  political  welfare,  that  they  may  be  enabled,  by  Thy  Powerful  Protec 
tion  to  discharge  the  duties  of  their  respective  interests. 

We  recommend  likewise,  to  Thy  unbounded  mercy,  all  our  brethren  and 
fellow-citizens  throughout  the  United  States,  that  they  may  be  blessed  in  the 
knowledge  and  sanctified  in  the  observation  of  Thy  most  Holy  Law,  that  they 
may  b?  preserved  in  union,  and  in  that  peace  which  the  world  cannot  give,  and 
after  enjoying  all  the  blessings  of  this  life,  be  admitted  to  those  which  are 
eternal. 

We  ask  also,  Oh,  Almighty  God,  for  Thy  blessing  upon  this  Centennial  Cele 
bration  which  is  inaugurated  to-day  with  beautiful  ceremonial,  in  which  Thy 
name  and  religion  are  recognized.  We  ask  Thy  benediction  upon  this  people  of 
this  city  of  Marietta,  where  a  hundred  years  ago  the  foundations  of  civil  govern 
ment  were  laid  for  this  Territory  of  the  Northwest.  We  ask  peace  and  plenty  to 
this  people,  and  to  all  the  people  throughout  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  throughout 
that  Territory  that  began  a  hundred  years  ago,  to  be  blessed  under  Thy  Provi 
dence  with  a  wise  and  beneficient  government.  Amen  ! 


Gov.  FORAKER  :  The  Doxology,  by  the  chorus,  and  the 
congregation  will  please  join  in  the  singing. 

After  the  singing  of  the  Doxology  by  the  choir  and  the 
congregation,  standing,  the  Elgin  Band  played  a  voluntary,  and 
the  audience  was  dismissed  until  8  o'clock  this  evening. 


5O  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


EVENING    SESSION—  8   P.    M. 


(Governor  J.  B.  FORAKER  presiding.) 

Gov.  Foraker,  in  calling  the  meeting  to  order,  said  :  The 
regular  exercises  of  the  evening  will  now  be  commenced  by* 
the  singing  of  an  anthem,  the  music  of  which  has  been  com 
posed  by  Prof.  Saroni. 

After  the  rendering  of  the  anthem,  Gov.  Foraker  said : 
You  will  now  be  led  in  prayer,  by  the  Rev.  T.  G.  Dickinson, 
of  your  city. 

Rev.  T.  G.  Dickinson :     Let  us  unite  in  prayer. 

Oh,  God,  who  from  Thy  Throne  in  the  heavens  doth  look  down  upon  the 
dwellers  on  earth ;  Thou  doth  recognize  in  them  Thy  children,  desirous  of  exe 
cuting  Thy  will  and  Thy  judgments  on  the  earth.  As  we  come  into  Thy  pres 
ence,  at  this  hour,  we  remember  that  Thou  hath  been  these  people's  guide  in 
the  century  that  is  past ;  we  remember  that  kindness  and  mercy  hath  been  per 
mitted  to  abide  with  them,  and  successes  and  achievements,  brilliant  in  them 
selves,  have  been  given  unto  them  from  the  hand  of  God. 

Now,  as  we  worship  in  Thy  presence,  at  this  hour,  let  Thy  tender  mercy  and 
loving  kindness  abide  with  us  also;  may  Thy  benedictions  be  upon  every  heart 
and  may  there  be  that  recognition  of  God  that  God  hath  a  right  to  expect  from 
every  heart  that  looketh  unto  him  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  blessings  of  this  earth, 
Wilt  Thou  pardon  and  absolve  us  of  all  our  sins.  Help  us  ever  to  live  in  loyalty 
to  Thee,  and  in  remembrance  of  Thy  commandments,  and  of  all  the  principles 
that  Thou  hast  given  unto  mankind  in  Christ  Jesus,  Our  Lord. 

Oh,  Son  of  .Mary,  hear  our  prayer ;  grant  that  from  day  to  day  we  may  grow 
in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  and  in  the  love  of  God,  and  eventually  bring  us 
to  Thyself,  through  the  grace  of  Our  Redeemer.  Amen. 

Gov.  Foraker :  The  congregation  will  please  join  in  sing 
ing  the  hymn  "  Coronation.'' 

After  the  singing  of  the  hymn  "  Coronation/'  Gov.  Fora 
ker  spoke  as  follows : 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  51 


The  framers  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787  declared  in  that  instrument  that  the 
three  great  essentials  of  good  government  were  religion,  morality  and  knowl 
edge.  The  address  of  this  afternoon  (Bishop  Gilmour's)  was  intended  to  show 
the  relation  of  religion  and  morality  to  civil  government,  and  it  must  have  made 
a  profound  impression  upon  all  who  heard  it. 

The  address  of  this  evening  will  be  intended  to  show  the  wisdom  of  the 
framers  of  that  Ordinance  in  declaring  the  essentiality  of  knowledge  in  the 
matter  of  good  government. 

The  title  of  the  address  is  "  Influence  of  Education  in  the  Development  of 
the  Northwest,"  and  will  be  delivered  by  President  N.  J.  Morrison,  D.  D  ,  LL.  D., 
whom  I  now  have  the  honor  of  introducing  to  you.  [Applause.] 

Prof.   Morrison  then  delivered   the   following  address  on 
"  Influence  of  Education  in  Development  of  the  Northwest:" 


Address  of  pVof.  Morrison. 


MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  FELLOW  CITIZENS:  The  eloquent  and  honored  orator 
of  the  afternoon,  in  his  patriotic  and  eminently  Christian  address,  reminded  us 
how  little  the  pioneers,  who  landed  from  the  Mayflower  at  this  point  one  century 
ago,  could  have  comprehended  the  full  significance  of  their  act — could  have  fore 
seen  the  magnitude  of  the  growth  that  was  destined  to  proceed  from  their  modest 
beginning. 

Doubtless  they,  in  common  with  most  makers  of  history,  "builded  better 
than  they  knew."  No  human  foresight  was  keen  enough  to  predict  this  vast 
gathering  of  busy  populations,  this  development  of  material  wealth,  this  advanced 
progress  in  every  form  of  social  thrift,  which  to-day  greet  our  eyes  here  on  the 
soil  of  "  the  Territory  Northwest  of  the  Ohio."  History  does  not  record  a  par 
allel  example  of  successful  colonization. 

And  yet,  to  a  marvelous  degree,  the  pioneers  planned  for  these  results ;  they 
knew  what  they  were  about.  They  left  their  former  homes  by  the  sounding  sea 
and  penetrated  far  inland  to  the  heart  of  this  savage  wilderness,  avowedly  to 
found  a  new  State.  They  brought  with  them  their  theory  of  society  and  of 
correct  political  organization,  with  the  destined  purpose  to  exploit  that  theory 
on  this  soil. 


52  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


We  are  accustomed  to  extol  the  merits  of  the  great  Ordinance  of  1787,  by 
which  civil  freedom  was  made  the  fixed  status  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Northwest  Territory  forever.  Said  Mr.  Webster,  in  his  first  reply  to  Hayne,  in 
the  United  States  Senate,  January  20,  1830:  "  We  are  accustomed  to  praise  the 
law-givers  of  antiquity.  We  help  to  perpetuate  the  fame  of  Solon  and  Lycur- 
gus;  but  I  doubt  whether  one  single  law  of  any  law-giver,  ancient  or  modern, 
has  produced  effects  of  more  distinct,  marked  and  lasting  character  than  the  Or 
dinance  of  1787."  And  the  purpose  and  pith  of  our  eulogy  turn  chiefly  on  the 
interdiction  of  slavery  embodied  in  the  sixth  article  of  the  immortal  ordinance. 
Yet  it  may  be  doubted  if  the  third  article  of  the  same  statute  be  not  the  product 
of  a  loftier,  more  enlightened,  and  more  Christian  patriotism,  and  more  worthy 
of  our  admiration.  It  reads  : 

"  Religion,  morality  and  knowledge,  being  necessary  to  good  government 
and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever 
be  encouraged." 

On  this  Mr.  Webster  again  remarks,  in  his  second  and  renowned  reply  to 
Hayne,  January  26,  1830, — "This  ordinance  did  that  which  was  not  so  common, 
and  which  is  not  even  now  universal ;  that  is,  it  set  forth,  and  declared  it  to  be  a 
high  and  binding  duty  of  government  itself  to  support  schools  and  advance  the 
means  of  education  on  the  plain  reason  that  religion,  morality  and  knowledge  are 
necessary  to  good  government  and  to  the  happiness  of  mankind." 

Now,  to  assert  that  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam  and  Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler,  represent 
ing  the  Marietta  Colonists,  are  the  authors  of  the  Third  and  Sixth  Articles  of  the 
Ordinance  of  1787,  or  procured  their  enactment  by  the  Congress,  may,  perhaps, 
arrogate  too  high  honor  to  these  hero  founders  of  Ohio.  But  this  much  at  least 
is  in  evidence :  Years  before  the  Ordinance,  they  were  publicly  urging  these 
principles  as  properly  fundamental  in  the  organization  of  any  new  society  on  the 
then  unoccupied  National  domain — held  intimate  communication  with  the  con 
trolling  influences  in  the  Congress,  while  this  Ordinance  was  in  process  of  fncu- 
bation — and  stubbornly  refused,  finally,  to  accept  for  themselves  and  their  asso 
ciates  any  cession  of  public  lands,  until  the  Congress  had  irrevocably  fixed  these 
principles  of  liberty,  religion  and  education  in  the  deed  of  cession. 

But  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  however  exalted  in  principle  and  purpose  of  it 
self,  could  make  nothing  of  freedom  and  universal  education  secure  to  the  future 
commonwealths  of  the  Northwest.  Such  legislation  could  but  remcve  impedi 
ments — only  cleared  the  way.  The  character  of  the  social  and  political  institu 
tions  to  grow  up  on  the  soil  of  Ohio,  was  to  be  determined  by  the  cJiaracter  of 
the  people,  who  should  found  these  institutions,  by  their  previous  civil  training 
and  habits. 

Had  the  early  settlers  of  the  Northwest  come  from  South  Carolina,  instead 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  53 


of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  Carolinian  institutions,  including  slavery  and 
wide-spread  illiteracy,  would  doubtless  have  been  reproduced  here  in  spite  of  the 
Ordinance.  But  Putnam,  Cutler  and  their  associates  from  New  England  had 
been  reared  and  schooled  in  the  principles  of  the  ordinance.  They,  therefore, 
both  from  force  of  habit  and  from  strong  conviction,  proceeded  to  make  these 
principles  operative  and  dominant  in  the  institutions  of  their  new  commonwealth. 

The  settlement  at  Marietta  in  1788,  and  by  immigrants  from  New  England, 
established  as  the  permanent  policy  of  the  National  Government,  and  first  put  in 
successful  operation  the  great  system  of  public  land  surveys  and  allotment,  by 
townships,  sections  and  subdivisions,  now  so  familiar  to  the  people  in  every  part 
of  the  United  States.  I  refer  to  this  fact  here  because  of  its  intimate  connection 
with  the  development  of  the  Common  School  system  in  the  Northwest.  The 
township,  six  miles  square,  is  now  the  American  educational  unit  from  the 
eastern  boundary  of  the  State  of  Ohio  to  the  Pacific. 

When  in  1784,  the  Centennial  Congress  came  to  consider  what  should  be 
done  with  the  vacant  lands,  acquired  by  treaty  from  Great  Britain,  and  chiefly 
lying  northwest  of  the  River  Ohio,  two  methods  for  surveying  and  allotting  these 
lands  presented  themselves — the  one  suggested  by  the  habit  of  the  Southern 
colonies,  the  other,  the  result  of  the  experience  of  New  England.  The  former 
may  be  called  the  "  Plantation  method  "  and  by  "  indiscriminate  locations,"  ac 
cording  to  which  the  intending  purchaser  might  locate  anywhere  on  the  public 
domain  and  own  all  the  land  he  could  bear  the  expense  of  surveying.  This 
system  would  naturally  lead  to  the  monopoly  of  the  best  lands  in  possession  of 
the  wealthy  few — to  a  society  built  on  the  idea  of  great  landed  estates,  held  by  a 
few  powerful,  segregated  families,  with  their  retinues  of  servants  and  dependants. 
In  a  society  so  constituted,  any  common  life,  common  schools,  universal  educa 
tion  would  be  well-nigh  impossible. 

The  experience  of  New  England,  on  the  other  hand,  approved  of  public 
surveys  by  the  government  at  public  expense — the  division  of  the  surveyed  terri 
tory  into  townships  six  miles  square,  which  should  be  the  lowest  political  unit  of 
the  State — individual  proprietorship  in  small  farms — a  common  life  among  all 
the  inhabitants  of  the  township,  common  interests  and  sentiments,  all  which 
crystalized  around  the  village  at  the  common  center.  In  such  a  communal  so 
ciety,  common  schools  and  universal  education  are  but  the  natural  development. 

The  New  England  plan,  though  somewhat  modified,  finally  prevailed  and 
became  by  act  of  Congress  the  law  of  procedure  in  the  expansion  of  organized 
society  over  all  the  Northwest,  and  eventually  over  all  the  country  to  the  Pacific 
ocean. 

The  superiority  of  this  system,  and  how  vast  the  gain  to  civilization  on  this 
continent  by  this  triumph  of  New  England,  is  strongly  attested  by  these  words 
of  Jefferson  :  "These  wards,  called  townships,  in  New  England,  are  the  vital 
principle  in  their  government,  and  have  proved  themselves  the  wisest  invention 


54  REPORT    OF    THE   COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


ever  devised  by  the  wit  of  man  for  the  exercise  of  self-government  and  for  its 
preservation." 

In  establishing  this  principle  as  the  permanent  policy  of  the  National  Gov 
ernment,  the  Pioneers  at  Marietta  bore  a  conspicuous  part,  not  only  in  making 
this  policy  first  practically  operative  on  the  territory  occupied  by  themselves,  but 
by  previous  advocacy  with  Congress  and  with  men  high  in  the  councils  of  the 
colonies.  As  early  as  1783,  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam,  in  petitioning  Congress  to  pay 
the  country's  debts  to  its  soldiers  by  the  allotment  of  lands  beyond  the  Ohio,  es 
pecially  asked  that  the  lands  should  be  surveyed  and  allotted  in  the  manner  pre 
viously  described.  To  this  method  Putnam  and  his  fellow-soldiers  had  been  ac 
customed  in  their  old  homes,  and  this  method  they  naturally  wished  to  see  ex 
tended  to  their  new  homes. 

To  these  Marietta  Colonists  we  are  also  indebted  for  establishing,  as  a 
national  principle,  the  idea  of  public  education  at  the  public  cost.  This  prin 
ciple  had  long  prevailed  in  New  England  along  with  her  township  political  or 
ganization.  It  followed  naturally  the  adoption  of  the  township  political  method 
to  the  soil  of  Ohio.  But  it  was  made  a  fixed  and  operative  institution  of  the 
Northwest,  by  the  terms  of  the  deed  of  cession  by  Congress  to  the  Ohio  Com 
pany,  these  terms  being  insisted  on  by  Putnam  and  Cutler,  as  a  condition  of  ac 
cepting  the  grant.  By  the  terms  of  this  grant,  section  sixteen  in  each  included 
township,  one-thirty-sixth  part  of  the  whole  purchase,  was  given  to  the  support  of 
common  schools,  and,  in  addition,  two  whole  townships  were  set  apart  to  inau 
gurate  and  maintain  a  State  University.  Consider  how  far-reaching  are  the  con 
sequences  of  this  broad  liberality  and  foresight  by  the  pioneer  founders  of  the 
Northwest.  They  gave  to  their  inchoate  Commonwealth  the  foundation  of 
University  instruction  beiore  their  hands  could  weave  shelter  from  the  elements 
for  their  families,  or  rear  defences  from  their  savage  foes. 

They  gave  to  Ohio  the  element  of  her  present  system  of  free  public  schools. 
In  these  provisions  for  public  education,  graven  in  the  charter  of  the  Colony  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum,  is  embodied  the  germ  of  the  system  of  State  edu 
cation,  primary  and  University,  as  now  exemplified  in  Michigan,  Wisconsin, 
Iowa,  California ;  in  all  the  new  Territories  soon  to  become  imperial  States,  and 
in  the  old  States  of  the  South,  lately  disenthralled,  restored,  rejuvenated.  [Ap 
plause.] 

This  legislation,  older  than  the  Constitution,  but  confirmed  after  the  setting 
up  of  the  Constitution,  distinctly  affirms  the  propriety  and  the  duty  of  Congress 
to  foster  education  and  schools,  to  see  that  the  Republic  incur  no  harm  from  the 
illiteracy  of  the  people.  This  act  is  both  controlling,  precedent  and  sound  inter 
pretation  of  the  functions  of  the  Federal  Government  respecting  education.  On 
it  have  since  been  justly  founded  successive  grants  of  public  lands  for  primary 
schools  in  all  the  newer  States,  for  Universities  in  many  States,  for  the  agricul 
tural  colleges  in  all.  Here,  also,  is  to  be  found  justifying  precedent  for  the 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  55 


moneys  expended  in  the  education  of  the  freedmen  at  the  close  of  the  civil  war ; 
for  the  proposed  national  legislation,  by  which  millions  shall  be  given  from  the 
National  Treasury  to  remove  the  peril  and  the  stain  of  illiteracy  from  the  south. 
[More  applause.] 

I  have  credited,  by  inference,  if  not  by  direct  assertion,  the  honor  of  this 
notable  provision  for  schools  and  education  in  the  charter  of  Ohio,  to  the  liberal 
ity  and  foresight  of  the  pioneers.  The  history  of  the  events  of  that  period 
justify  me.  The  writings  and  acts  of  the  pioneers  themselves  confirm  this  view. 
Says  Gen.  Putnam,  in  a  letter  dated  November  20,  1800,  "The  two  townships" 
(given  for  the  University)  "were  in  fact  more  of  a  donation  of  the  Ohio  Com 
pany,  than  of  the  United  States,  as  this  was  a  part  of  the  consideration  which 
induced  the  directors  of  the  company  to  agree  to  purchase  the  other  lands." 
Dr.  Manas?eh  Cutler,  in  the  first  sermon  preached  by  him  in  Ohio,  delivered  in 
'the  Campus  Martius  at  Marietta,  on  Sunday,  August  24,  1788,  urges  upon  the 
people  "  an  early  attention  to  the  instruction  of  youth  as  of  the  greatest  impor 
tance  to  a  new  settlement.  It  will  lay  the  foundations  for  a  well  regulated 
society."  Later,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  Dr.  Cutler  writes:  "The  provision  that 
is  made"  (in  ordinance  of  1787  and  the  terms  of  purchase  by  the  Ohio  Com 
pany)  "  for  schools  and  the  endowment  of  an  university  looks  with  a  most  favor" 
able  aspect  upon  the  settlement/and  furnishes  the  presentiment  that  by  proper 
attention  to  the  subject  of  education,  under  these  advantages,  the  field  of  science 
may  be  greatly  enlarged,  and  the  acquisition  of  useful  knowledge  placed  upon  a 
more  reputable  footing  here  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world" 

Who  shall  say,  when  he  considers  what  a  single  century  from  primeval 
savagery  has  accomplished  for  education,  science  and  learning  in  the  Northwest, 
that  the  vision  of  this  seer  and  statesman  shall  fail  to  complete  fulfillment? 
[Cheering.] 

Nor  should  the  always  honorable  and  frequently  prominent  connection  of 
the  people  of  this  community  with  the  progress  of  education  in  Ohio  and  the 
fashioning  of  the  State  common  school  system  be  omitted  in  this  discussion. 
Among  the  most  active  and  influential  advocates  of  the  most  important  common 
school  legislation  ever  enacted  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  was  a  noble  son  of  Dr. 
Cutler,  for  a  long  period  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature,  holding  also  high 
judicial  office,  a  native  and  life-long  resident  of  the  Ohio  Company's  Purchase." 
And  the  large  pecuniary  contributions  made  from  time  to  time  to  the  cause  of 
education  here,  in  connection  with  various  academies,  and  especially  in  connec* 
tion  with  Marietta  College,  chiefly  by  descendants  of  the  pioneers  of  1788,  prove 
that  the  far-reaching  foresight,  and  the  broad  liberality  respecting  provision  for 
the  education  of  the  people,  that  characterized  the  noble  fathers,  still  survive  in 
the  noble  sons. 

Our  theme  is  the  development  of  education  in  the  Northwest  Territory. 
Therefore  some  of  the  educational  results  of  the  century's  progress,  as  shown  by 
official  statistics,  will  be  in  place  and  have  real  value. 


56  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


In  the  year  1886,  and  within  the  limits  of  the  five  states  northwest  of  the 
Ohio,  and  constituting  almost  the  entire  domain  of  the  old  Northwest  Territory, 
there  were  4,102,756  children  and  youths  of  legal  school  age.  Of  this  number, 
2,779,599  were  actually  enrolled  scholars  of  the  public  schools.  About  250,000 
more  attended  the  various  private  institutions  of  learning.  Hence,  in  that  year, 
the  Northwest  sent  to  school  more  than  3,000,000  of  its  children. 

For  the  education  of  their  sons  and  daughters,  citizens  of  the  Northwest  ig 
the  year  1886  paid  in  taxes  levied  on  their  property,  or  from  funds  arising  from 
early  land  grants  to  education,  the  great  sum  of  $35,000,000,  and  gave  besides, 
in  voluntary  offerings  to  private  schools,  more  than  $2,500,000;  $37,500,000  in 
all,  an  annual  income  of  the'schools  of  a  community,  whose  soil,  a  hundred  years 
ago  was  covered  by  an  unbroken  primeval  wilderness,  greater  than  the  revenue 
of  many  an  historic  kingdom. 

And  these  impressive  statistics,  of  course,  make  no  disclosure  of  the  liber 
ality  of  States  and  individual  citizens  to  the  libraries,  museums  of  science,  schools 
of  music,  art  and  industry,  professional  schools,  asylums,  reformatories,  all  of 
which  are  educational  in  their  purpose;  and  to  erect  splendid  edifices  to  house 
these  various  institutions  and  to  furnish  the  myriad  educational  paraphernalia 
for  their  equipment,  which  abound  in  all  our  cities  and  larger  centers  of  popula 
tion.  Nor  can  statistics  of  school  attendance  and  this  reflection  upon  the  ready 
liberality  of  our  people  to  supply  all  the  approved  accessories  of  education,  reveal 
to  us  the  processes  in  popular  enlightenment  and  elevation  which  have  been  rife 
among  us,  by  which  the  people  of  these  five  States  have  advanced  to  a  degree  of 
general  intelligence  and  civilization  unsurpassed  by  any  community  in  historic 
times. 

In  this  educational  progress  of  the  Northwest,  our  own  Ohio,  if  in  some 
particulars  falling  a  little  short,  has  in  many  respects  held  the  advance,  and  on 
the  whole  kept  pace  with  the  fleetest  of  her  sisters.  Nowhere  else  are  the  means 
of  education  more  widely  distributed,  or  more  easily  accessible,  even  to  the  hum 
blest.  If  the  State  Universities  of  Michigan  and  Minnesota  surpass  the  twin 
Universities  provided  for  Ohio  by  the  generous  forethought  of  the  Fathers  in 
the  wealth  of  their  educational  facilities  and  renown,  other  Ohio  colleges,  with 
open  doors,  invite  all  ingenuous  youth  to  an  intellectual  banquet  unsurpassed. 

Cavilers  have  criticised  Ohio  for  maintaining  so  many  colleges,  some  of 
which,  from  this  very  fact  of  numbers,  must  be  doomed  to  slender  equipment  and 
narrow  patronage.  Possibly  the  number  of  incorporated  colleges  and  universi 
ties  in  the  State  is  excessive.  If  so,  the  principle  of  Darwin,  in  the  life  of  plants 
and  animals,  "  the  survival  of  the  fittest,"  may  be  expected  to  come  to  the  rescue 
of  our  institutions  of  highest  culture  and  learning.  At  any  rate,  the  great  prev 
alence  of  "  the  Ohio  man,"  in  all  departments  of  the  highest  human  activities, 
in  peace  and  war,  in  statesmanship,  in  exploration,  in  great  and  complicated  busi 
ness  industries,  in  invention,  science,  art,  literature,  is  conclusive  proof  of  good 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  57 


teaching  in  Ohio  schools,  and  of  high  intelligence,  wide-spread  among  the  people 
of  Ohio. 

I  have  already  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  institution  of  free  public 
schools,  inaugurated  in  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  transferred  with  their 
Bibles  their  love  of  freedom  and  their  habits  of  industry  and  thrift,  by  the  pioneers 
of  1788  to  the  soil  of  Ohio,  has  now  spread  over  the  face  of  the  continent.  They 
are  now  the  universal  law  of  the  Republic.  And  doubtless  the  spread  of  this 
benign  institution,  modified  by  its  replanting  in  the  Northwest,  has  been  quick 
ened  by  the  fact  that  in  crossing  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  it  has  borne  the  certifi 
cate  of  Ohio  and  Illinois,  rather  than  that  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut. 

The  theme  of  the  evening,  the  event  and  the  men  we  commemorate,  this 
magnificent  audience  assembled  to  honor  the  deeds  of  the  fathers  who  founded 
here  the  institutions  of  freedom,  intelligence  and  virtue  in  which  we  exult,  seem 
to  suggest  this  as  the  fitting  time  for  us  to  recount  our  indebtedness  to  the  people's 
common  schools,  and  to  pledge  anew  to  these  characteristic  American  institutions 
our  undying  loyalty. 

Universal  education  is  the  logical  conditio  sine  qua  non  of  successful  republi 
can  institutions ;  universal  taxation  is  the  necessary  condition  of  universal  edu 
cation  ;  non.sectarian  teaching,  though  by  no  means  nor.-religious  teaching,  in 
the  people's  schools,  is  the  necessary  condition  of  the  union  of  all  the  people, 
every  class,  creed  and  party,  in  the  maintenance  of  public  schools — is  the  logical 
outcome  of  the  American  constitution. 

I  devoutly  believe  in  the  common  schools  because  they  are  democratic.  They 
are  of  the  people  and  for  the  people.  They  are  intended  for  the  training  of  the 
children  of  all  American  citizens,  without  respect  to  station,  property  or  race. 
In  the  common  school,  almost  alone  of  all  our  public  institutions,  wealth,  descent 
and  nationality  count  for  nothing.  The  child  or  youth  takes  precedence,  Tarries 
off  the  honors,  wins  the  prize,  solely  by  ascertained  merit.  In  this  respect  as  a 
means  of  training  all  of  our  children  into  the  habitual  conception  of  a  true  de 
mocracy  of  equal  rights  under  the  law,  and  equal  opportunities  for  individual 
advancement  by  the  force  of  individual  merit,  the  common  school  cannot  be  too 
highly  prized. 

I  am  loyal  to  the  public  school  because  it  is  characteristicallyand  intensely 
American,  and  fitted  to  promote  intelligent  American  citizenship  and  ardent  pat 
riotism.  The  common  school  is  an  American  production — unique,  indigenous  to 
our  soil  as  are  our  forests  of  buckeyes  and  our  fields  of  maize.  We  imported  our 
colleges,  as  we  have  our  literature,  from  England  ;  from  England  and  Germany 
united  we  are  now  importing  our  universities.  But  our  common  schools,  in  their 
origin,  in  their  theory,  in  the  mode  of  their  maintenance  and  administration,  are 
our  own  invention. 

No  other  country  on  the  globe  has  so  heterogeneous  a  population.  Every 
race  of  Europe,  half  the  teeming  races  of  Asia,  many  from  the  dusky  tribes  of 
Africa  and  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  are  here,  swelling  the  populations  of  our 


58  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


great  cities,  thronging  the  extended  lines  of  our  continental  highways,  dotting 
with  the  settler's  cabin  the  surface  of  our  virgin  prairies.  They  have  brought 
with  them  from  their  old  homes  their  native  ideas  of  society,  law,  government, 
personal  morality;  their  habits,  opinions,  creels,  prejudices;  their  multifarious 
tongues,  so  that  a  representative  of  every  spoken  language  now  extant  in  the 
world,  which  has  been  reduced  to  writing,  in  traversing  the  limits  of  our  country, 
might  find  a  compatriot  to  respond  to  his  address  in  the  tongue  in  which  he  was 
born.  All  these  have  come  to  stay.  More  are  on  the  way. 

Now,  the  problem  is  to  transform  this  heterogeneous  mass  into  good  American 
citizens;  to  transfuse  them  into  one  people,  essentially  homogeneous  in  political 
thought  and  political  activity. 

To  solve  this  problem  our  chief,  our  only  hopeful  agency,  is  the  Common 
School.  This  can  reach  the  children  of  the  wildest  and  most  besotted  immigrant 
and  Americanize  them,  so  that  the  "next  generation  may  be  prepared  for  the  ex 
ercise  of  the  functions  of  American  citizenship.  And  if,  through  the  ill-manage 
ment  of  the  public  schools,  or  through  the  opposition  to  them  of  ignorance, 
prejudice  and  creed  or  nationality,  the  schools  fail  thus  to  harmonize  and  fuse  in 
one  of  these  heterogeneous  and  often  hostile  elements  of  our  population,  then  I 
know  no  source  to  which  we  can  turn  for  help. 

It  has  been  supposed  by  some  that  colleges,  seminaries  and  schools,  organ 
ized  and  supported  by  voluntary  effort,  are  hostile  to  the  pu  lie  schools.  This 
need  not  be  so.  The  two  may  be  mutually  complimentary  and  helpful.  It  were 
well,  perhaps,  if  all  American  children  should  receive  their  elementary  education 
in  the  public  school.  And  the  elementary  work  in  these  schools  ought  to  be  of 
such  excelling  excellence  that  intelligent  parents  will  feel  that  they  cannot  afford 
to  send  their  children  to  other  schools  for  elementary  education. 

But  above  this  elementary  grade  of  education,  there  is  ample  field  for  the 
exercise  of  private  and  ecclesiastical  effort  in  education.  The  State  schools  may 
best  teach  what  the  State  determines  is  essential  to  safe  citizenship.  But  there  are 
many  other  things,  very  important  for  many  of  our  sons  and  daughters  to  know, 
which  the  State  cannot  teach,  or  cannot  teach  so  well  as  the  private  institution. 
Moreover,  the  State  schools,  all  the  way  up  from  Kindergarden  to  the  technical 
school  and  the  University,  need  the  moulding  and  restraining  influence  of  insti 
tutions  based  on  the  religious  idea.  These  last  will  furnish  very  many  of  the 
most  successful  teachers  of  elementary  studies,  and  thus  the  elementary  schools 
themselves  wiil  continue  to  be  administered  by  teachers  of  earnest  religious  char 
acter.  And  should  the  materialistic  spirit  of  the  age  so  far  invade  the  higher 
State  institutions  of  learning  as  to  threaten  their  chairs  of  instruction  with  the 
blight  of  irreligion  and  atheism,  the  near  presence  of  the  Christian  college,  with 
its  ample  intellectual  equipment  and  earnest  Christian  spirit  will  curb  this  ten 
dency  of  the  former  and  constrain  a  return  to  a  sound  Christian  basis.  In  this 
aspect  the  evangelical  colleges  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota  are  of 
incalculable  advantage  to  the  State  schools  in  these  respective  States. 

For  fourteen  years  it  has  been  my  business  to  toil  at   the  foundations  of  a 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  59 


Christian  college  in  one  of  the  States  lately  the  theater  of  civil  war.  When  this 
work  began  a  new  State  system  of  Common  Schools  was  just  being  set  up.  Be 
cause  of  my  early  education  in  the  public  schools,  as  well  as  from  views  of 
sound  policy,  I  sought  to  ally  my  work  closely  with  the  public  schools.  Other 
managers  of  Christian  Colleges  demurred,  alleging  that  the  success  of  the  com 
mon  schools  of  the  State,  including  its  University,  would  militate  against  the 
success  of  their  work.  To  this,  in  substance,  I  replied,  "we  cannot  afford  to  op 
pose  the  public  schools;  any  college,  school  or  teacher,  who  pits  himself  against 
the  people's  free  schools  will  be  driven  to  the  wall.  The  American  people  are 
behind  the  American  Common  School."  And  so  I  repeat  to-night,  no  individual, 
no  school,  no  institution,  no  party,  no  church,  no  theory  of  society,  can  afford  to 
enter  the  lists  in  conflict  with  our  system  of  free  education  for  all  American 
children.  [Applause.] 

Our  common  school  education  needs,  doubtless,  important  amendment  and 
improvement.  Let  us  seek  and  find  the  best.  Yet,  with  whatever  drawback  of 
imperfection  or  abuse  it  is  afflicted,  it  is  the  one  institution  in  which  the  average 
American  justifiably  takes  the  deepest  pride. 

And  the  system  is  improving  and  extending  as  few  human  institutions  im 
prove  and  grow.  Witness  its  marvelous  recent  extension  in  all  parts  of  the  re 
cently  belligerent  and  enslaved  States  of  the  south !  And  the  people  of  all  por 
tions  of  the  country,  who  pay  the  taxes  which  build  the  multiplying  school 
houses  and  support  the  vast  army  of  teachers,  are  yearly  increasing  the  levy  and 
the  school  appropriations.  This  shows  that  the  attachment  of  the  people  to  the 
institution  grows  with  the  lapse  of  time  and  the  more  perfect  development  of  the 
system.  [Applause.] 

Gov.  Foraker :  The  congregation  are  invited  to  now  join 
with  the  chorus  in  singing  the  hymn  "  Autum."  You  will  find 
it  in  your  programme. 

After  the  singing  of  the  hymn  "Autum,"  Gov.  Foraker 
said: 

I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  the  Rev. 
George  R.  Gear,  who  will  address  you  upon  the  subject  of 
"Some  Religious  Lessons  from  the  Century." 


Rev.  Mr.  Gear,  of  Marietta,  Ohio,  then  delivered  the  fol 
lowing  address  on  "Some  Religious  Lessons  from  the  Cen 
tury:" 


60  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


/\ddress   of  JMr.    Qear. 


MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS  :  History,  in  its  deepest  meaning, 
is  the  unfolding  of  God's  plan  for  human  progress.  It  is  not  a  fortuitous  suc 
cession  of  events  without  order  or  plan.  The  world's  great  poet  says : 

"There is  a  Divinity  that  shapes  our  ends, 
Rough  hew  them  how  we  will." 

Of  the  handiwork  of  that  shaping  divinity,  history  is  full.  We  find  an  accu 
rate  timing  and  directing  of  events,  so  that  each  works  into  one  grand  plan. 
Nowhere  is  this  more  conspicuously  seen  than  in  the  events  connected  with  the 
history  of  the  great  Northwest.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  ownership  of 
this  Territory  was  in  dispute.  The  French  laid  claim  to  it,  and  their  military 
posts  and  missionary  settlements  were  scattered  here  and  there  over  this  Western 
land.  Had  this  ownership  and  settlement  prevailed,  vastly  different  would  have 
been  the  history  of  the  Northwest.  But  God's  Providence  ordered  events  so 
that  English  civilization,  with  its  open  Bible,  and  with  its  vastly  different  concep 
tions  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  should  prevail.  In  the  early  settlement  of 
this  vast  Territory,  the  great  question  to  be  decided,  upon  which  hinged  all  the 
history  of  this  vast  land,  was,  whether  the  French  race,  with  its  French  ideas 
and  its  French  civilization,  should  be  masters  here,  or  whether  the  English  ideas 
of  civil  liberty  and  religious  liberty  should  prevail  in  this  land.  And  you  know 
how,  in  that  great  French  and  Indian  war,  that  question  was  effectually  decided. 
That  war,  in  the  Providence  of  God,  also  trained  the  colonies  of  self-dependence 
and  was  a  great  military  school,  in  which  they  were  taught  the  art  of  war  pre 
paratory  to  their  struggle  for  political  liberty.  The  war  of  independence,  again 
had  other  results  not  less  important  than  the  severing  of  the  bond  of  political 
union  with  the  mother  country.  It  resulted  in  new  and  enlarged  conceptions  of 
the  meaning  of  liberty,  both  civil  and  religious.  Brought  into  the  light  of  their 
own  struggle  for  freedom,  American  slavery  began  to  take  on  a  new  aspect. 
When  this  sentiment  of  the  incongruity  of  the  political  freedom  which  they  had 
now  with  the  institution  of  domestic  slavery,  was  at  its  hight,  whose  attention  is 
it  that  is  first  directed  toward  this  western  land  ?  We  would  naturally  expect 
that  Virginia  would  be  first  to  enter  it,  as  being  nearest  at  hand,  and  laying  claim 
.to  jurisdiction  over  it.  Had  Virginians  been  the  first  settlers,  they  would  natur 
ally  have  brought  with  them  their  slaves,  and  thus  the  curse  of  slavery  would 
have  become  fastened  upon  the  foundations  of  the  State,  that  curse  which  it  has 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION. 

T 

cost  the  nation  so  much  of  its  best   blood   to   eradicate  from   our  national"  life'.  F*  *>  J 
But  the  men  whose  eyes  are  first  turned  toward  this  Western  land,  are  n^>t  Vir 
ginians,  but  they  belong  to  a  far  distant  State,  old  Massachusetts,     [Applause.]-.  ^ 

Here,  slavery  had  never  obtained  any  but  a  slight  foothold,  and  at  this  period 
there  was  in  that  commonwealth  not  one  to  call  any  man  master.  Those  whose 
eyes  looked  to  this  western  wild  for  a  home,  were  not  trained  in  that  great 
school  of  liberty,  the  War  of  Independence.  Before  they  were  willing  to  set 
foot  on  this  soil,  they  wished  authoritative  assurance  that  it  should  be  a  land  of 
freedom  To  Congress  they  go  for  a  charter  that  shall  secure  it  to  be  the  per 
petual  inheritance  of  liberty.  That  appeal  came  at  the  only  time  it  could  have 
been  granted,  for  soon  the  lessons  of  the  Revolution  were  in  one  section  of  the 
land  forgotten,  and  a  reaction  in  favor  of  the  continuance  of  slavery  took  place. 
Are  these  coincidences  merely  fortuitous  ;  are  they  simply  fortunate  chances  ? 
He  who  believes  in  a  personal  God,  who  has  a  fatherly  interest  in  the  welfare  of 
man,  will  not  find  it  hard  to  see  in  these,  things  the  moulding,  guiding  hand  of 
His  Providence. 

If  we  look  at  the  time  of  this  pioneer  entrance  as  related  to  another  greater 
factor  of  our  Christian  civilization,  not  less  clear  is  the  Divine  working.  Had 
French  civilization  prevailed,  we  should  have  soon  bore  that  union  of  Church 
and  State  that  has  been  fraught  with  so  much  evil  both  to  religion  and  to  civil 
liberty.  Had  the  settlement  been  made  when  English  title  to  the  soil  was  indis 
putably  acquired  by  the  arbitrament  of  war,  then  there  would  have  been  diffi 
culty  in  shaking  off  that  peculiar  form  of  connection  between  Church  and  State 
that  prevailed  in  most  colonies.  The  most  advanced  ideas  before  the  Revolu 
tionary  war  were  those  of  toleration,  and  toleration  falls  far  short  of  genuine  re 
ligious  liberty.  The  former  supposes  one  faith  that  has  the  pre-eminent  right  to 
exist,  which  the  State  recognizes  and  maintains,  while  the  other  faiths  require 
official  permission.  Religious  liberty  puts  all  beliefs  on  an  equal  footing  before 
the  civil  law,  giving  special  rights  and  privileges  to  none.  The  Revolution, 
binding  together  men  of  all  beliefs  in  a  common  patriotism,  cementing  them 
together  by  common  hardships  and  sufferings,  gave  a  wonderful  impulse  to  re 
ligious  liberty.  In  Virginia,  down  to  the  time  of  the  war,  there  had  been  much 
persecution.  Marriages  and  burials  could  be  legally  solemnized  only  by  the 
clergy  of  the  established  church.  But  in  1785  Virginia  threw  off  the  connection 
between  Church  and  State,  and  ever  since,  full  religious  liberty  has  been  en 
joyed  in  that  commonwealth.  In  Massachusetts,  the  movement  was  much  slower, 
but  many  of  the  wiser  patriots,  taught  in  the  school  of  war,  came  to  have  right 
views  of  the  true  relation  between  religion  and  the  State.  And  yet,  so  slow  were 
the  people  at  large  to  throw  off  this  yoke,  that  it  was  regarded  as  a  great  conces 
sion  when  a  new  constitution  was  framed  in  Massachusetts,  in  1780,  in  which  it 
was  provided  that  the  religious  tax  which  one  paid  to  the  State,  might  be  em 
ployed  in  supporting  one's  own  form  of  worship,  provided,  that  there  was  in  the 


62  REPORT  -OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


town  where  he  lived,  a  church  of  that  faith,  upon  whose  services  he  attended. 
Even  this  concession  was  bitterly  opposed,  and  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
opposition  said  :  "  We  believe  in  our  consciences,  that  the  best  way  to  serve 
God  is  to  have  religion  protected,  and  ministers  of  the  Gospel  supported  by  the 
law." 

But  the  men  who  turned  their  thoughts  to  this  Western  land  were  men  with 
wiser  views.  Firmly  convinced  that  religion  had  an  important  relation  to  the 
welfare  of  the  State,  they  saw  that  its  ends  could  besc  be  secured  when  separated 
from  statute  enactments  regulating  its  exercise.  So  just  at  the  time  when  their 
ideas  had  gained  so  powerful  a  foothold,  the  men  whose  experience  in  the  school 
of  liberty  fitted  them  to  be  their  fit  opponents  canle  to  this  land  to  lay  the  foun 
dations  of  a  new  empire.  Very  plain  to  the  devout  mind  is  the  hand  of  God  in 
thus  timing  events  from  which  such  blessed  results  have  followed.  [Applause.] 

Never  has  any  statute  book  in  this  great  Northwest  been  disgraced  by  op 
pressive  enactments,  denying  to  any  man  the  free  exercise  of  his  religious  faith. 
Religious  liberty  has  been  both  the  birth-right  and  perpetual  inheritance  of  this 
western  land.  [Renewed  applause.] 

One  of  the  most  important  gains  that  the  century  has  brought  us  is  a  broad 
ened  Christian  charity.  We  have  learned  that  wide  differences  of  view  concern 
ing  doctrine  and  church  order  are  not  necessarily  connected  with  suspicion  and 
distrust.  We  have  learned  that  there  are  great  fundamental  truths  in  which  we 
are  in  accord,  and  to  give  far  more  emphasis  to  these  than  to  discussion  of  doc 
trinal  and  denominational  differences.  Our  older  people  can  remember  the  time 
when  it  was  the  fashion  in  this  western  land  for  the  champions  of  opposing 
schools  of  theology  and  church  order  to  meet  and  hold  long  debates,  which  drew 
large  crowds  of  the  partisans  of  the  respective  faiths.  The  result  was  a  Kilkenny 
cat  sort  of  victory,  if  you  might  believe  the  accounts  of  both  sides ;  for  each  told 
triumphantly  how  his  champion  had  effectually  demolished  his  opponent.  But 
with  the  cat's  nine  lives  each  champion  was  again  soon  active  and  eager  for 
another  fray.  These  debates  found  their  echo  on  the  street,  and  in  stores  and 
shops,  where  theologic  dogma  and  denominational  differences  were  the  subject 
of  excited  discussion.  Often  with  more  vigor  than  wisdom,  you  might  hear  men 
talking  of  Armenianism,  Calvinism,  Baptism,  Universalism,  Catholicism  and 
kindred  topics.  In  these  heated  controversies  it  not  infrequently  happened  that 
the  lines  of  a  certain  hymn  were  exemplified: 

"  In  the  varied  range  of  thought, 
The  one  thing  needful  was  forgot." 

There  were,  doubtless,  more  reasons  for  this  condition  of  things  that  do 
not  exist  now.  There  were  fewer  questions  of  public  in'terest  to  occupy  men's 
minds.  Newspapers  and  periodicals  were  few  and  contained  little  of  general 
interest.  The  affairs  of  the  world,  with  questions  of  probable  war  and  political 


!  v  ^..^WIT  : 

NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    €E8R^EIQN>'\  V^     63 

x 


disturbance,  did  not  come  daily  before  men's  attention.  Modern  science,  with 
its  multitudinous  discoveries  and  inventions,  was  then  scarcely  known.  People 
had  much  more  leisure.  The  rush  and  hurry  of  modern  business  life  was  not 
yet  born.  The  struggle  of  the  different  denominations  to  gain  a  foothold  in  the 
new  country  naturally  thrust  their  peculiar  views  into  prominence.  And  yet, 
while  making  all  due  allowance  for  this  changed  condition  of  life,  I  think  it  is 
unquestionably  true  that  there  is  far  less  of  the  controversial  spirit  among  Chris 
tians  to-day.  In  place  of  it  has  come  a  genuine  spirit  of  fraternity.  In  the 
practical  side  of  Chiistianity  we  see  that  our  work  is  essentially  one.  The  deliv 
erance  of  men  from  the  thralldom  of  evil  and  the  up-building  of  righteous 
character  moulded  under  the  power  of  Christ  is  the  all-important  thing. 

The  result  is  that  men  of  diverse  views  have  drawn  near  together  in  varied 
forms  of  Christian  work  that  were  unknown  to  our  fathers.  In  Evangelical  Alli 
ances,  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  Sunday  School  Conventions,  Young 
People's  Societies  of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  various  other  organizations,  Chris 
tians  of  varied  faith  work  in  harmonious  concert.  Such  an  assemblage  of  men 
as  worked  together  in  the  late  revision  of  the  Bible,  two  centuries  ago  would 
have  sent  each  other  to  prison  if  not  to  the  scaffold.  So  in  the  promotion  of 
some  great  moral  reform  you  may  sometime  see  the  descendant  of  the  New  Eng 
land  Puritan,  the  advocate  of  prelacy,  the  adherent  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith, 
sitting  side  by  side  with  Baptists  and  Methodists  and  Quakers,  working  for  the 
common  end. 

The  gospels  tell  us  that  Jesus  said :  "  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men 
unto  me."  The  century  has  shown  us  some  new  fulfillments  of  this.  Men  have 
drawn  nearer  together  as  they  have  drawn  nearer  to  Christ.  Men,  starting,  some 
from  the  Lutheran  faith,  some  from  the  Arminian  belief,  some  from  Calvinistic 
tenets,  some  from  the  faith  represented  by  Thomas  A.  Kempis  and  Fenelon,  as 
they  have  converged  on  the  cross,  have  found  their  hearts  strangely  drawn  to 
gether  as  they  gazed  on  the  bleeding  heart  of  Jesus,  throbbing  with  mighty  love 
for  man. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  there  is  some  danger  connected  with  this  broad 
ened  charity.  Men  may  mistake  indifference  to  truth  for  Christian  charity.  In 
difference  to  truth  will  undermine  religious  character.  Conduct  and  creed  can 
not  wholly  be  dissevered.  But  such  evils  are  inessential  to  all  forward  move 
ments,  and  ought  not  to  prevent  our  rejoicing  over  the  spirit  of  Christian  unity. 
We  may  have  decided  convictions,  and  yet  rejoice  that  there  is  such  a  broad  body 
of  fundamental  truth  that  forms  a  basis  of  united  work. 

Another  lesson  that  the  century  has  taught  us,  is  the  worth  of  sterling  character 
to  the  welfare  of  the  State.  The  men  who  came  here  a  century  ago,  were  not 
adventurers,  drawn  hither  by  love  of  gold.  They  came  here  with  high  and  lofty 
purpose.  Impoverished  by  their  patriotic  service  in  the  Revolution,  and  unable 
in  the  prostration  of  industry  that  followed  the  war  to  recover  themselves  in  the 


64  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF     THE 


State  of  their  nativity,  they  sought  to  make  for  themselves  new  homes  in  this 
western  land.  They  realized  that  only  by  hard  toil,  and  patient  endurance,  could 
these  homes  be  secured,  but  that  price  they  were  willing  to  give.  They  were  men 
of  industry,  integrity  and  uprightness.  They  were  God-fearing  men,  men  who 
respected  religion,  respected  God's  word  and  the  Sabbath.  I  fear  that  could 
they  rise  from  their  graves  and  see  some  of  the  sights  and  hear  some  of  the 
sounds  that  Marietta  has  witnessed  this  Lord's  day,  their  hearts  would  be  filled 
with  grief.  Because  of  their  sterling  character  it  is  that  we  honor  them,  and  not 
merely  because  they  were  the  first  to  make  this  spot  their  home.  They  were 
nature's  noblemen,  and  well  may  we  be  thankful  that  to  such  hands  was  com 
mitted  the  work  of  forming  the  principles  of  government.  The  lesson  of  their 
lives  is  that  character  is  more  than  wealth  ;  is  in  fact  the  only  secure  formation 
of  individual  or  public  prosperity. 

The  pioneers  found  this  land  a  wilderness.  Ere  they  passed  away,  they  saw 
it  dotted  thick  with  beautiful  farms  and  thriving  villages  and  cities.  But  could 
they  come  back  this  centennial  year  and  behold  the  mighty  changes  wrought, 
the  great  and  populous  cities  that  stretch  from  the  Northern  Lakes  to  the  beau 
tiful  river  on  whose  banks  they  landed,  the  transformation  would  doubtless  seem 
more  like  the  magic  of  an  Arabian  Night's  Dream  than  sober  reality. 

Looking  from  our  vantage  point  backward,  we  gratefully  exclaim  :  "  Well 
done,  wise  and  faithful  foundation-builders  of  the  past."  For  us  the  duty  of  the 
hour  is  to  perpetuate  and  develop  this  inheritance  of  the  fathers  along  the  same 
great  lines  of  religion,  morality  and  public  education,  so  that  when  another  cen 
tury  comes,  our  descendants  may  be  enabled  to  point  back  to  the  fact  that  we 
have  raised  still  higher  this  great  edifice  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  [Applause.] 


Gov.  Foraker :     We  will  now  be  addressed  by  Rev.  C.  E. 
Dickinson,  upon  "The  Early  History  of  Sunday  Schools." 

Rev.  Mr.  Dickinson  then  delivered  the  following  address 
on  "The  Early  History  of  Sunday  Schools  " : 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.        65 


Address  of   Mr.  DicUir\son. 


FELLOW-CITIZENS:  I  may  say  (referring  to  a  slight  interruption  caused  by 
some  of  the  audience  leaving)  before  I  commence  the  history,  that  you  all  re 
member  the  story  of  the  old  Scotchman  who  said  to  "wait  till  the  chaff  blows  off 
and  then  we  will  go  on  with  the  sifting." 

It  was  our  purpose,  and  we  supposed  we  had  engaged  a  man  connected  with 
the  National  Sunday  School  Union,  who  would  address  you  this  evening  upon 
this  subject.  In  that,  however,  we  were  all  disappointed,  and  the  task  has  been 
assigned  to  me  to  fill,  as  best  I  may,  his  place. 

What  is  known  as  the  Robert  Raikes  Sunday  School  movement  was  started 
in  Gloucester,  England,  in  the  year  1781.  This  was  really  a  secular  movement. 
The  plan  was  to  gather  and  teach  on  Sunday  the  very  poor  and  ignorant  children 
who  were  occupied  during  the  week.  This  has  been  called  the  beginning  of 
modern  Sunday  Schools,  because  it  was  the  first  organized  effort,  but  there  were 
individual  schools  in  this  country  at  an  earlier  date.  W.  A.  Pitenger,  of  Cin 
cinnati,  Ohio,  in  an  address  before  the  Ohio  Sunday  School  Convention,  in  1887, 
asserts  that  there  was  a  school  in  Roxbury,  Mass.,  in  1674,  (more  than  one  hun 
dred  years  before  the  Raikes  Schools).  A  school  in  Newtown,  Long  Island,  in 
1683 ;  a  school  in  Ephrata,  Penn.,  in  1740;  one  in  Bethlehem,  Conn.,  in  1740,  and 
one  in  Philadelphia,  in  1744.  How  long  these  schools  continued  I  have  not  been 
able  to  ascertain,  except  that  the  one  in  Ephrata,  Penn.,  was  broken  up  after  the 
battle  of  Brandywine,  in  1777,  because  the  room  was  used  for  a  hospital.  So  far 
as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  the  next  Sunday  School  in  this  country  was  or 
ganized  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  in  1791,  by  Mrs.  Mary  (Bird)  Lake.  [Applause.] 
This  school  was  continued  four  years  and  was  for  religious  instruction.  A  school 
was  organized  in  Philadelphia  the  same  year  on  the  Robert  Raikes  plan.  In 
1794,  Sarah  Colt,  a  girl  of  eleven  years,  organized  a  Sunday  School  among  the 
factory  children  in  Paterson,  New  Jersey,  and  soon  had  60  scholars  under  her 
care.  In  1797,  Mr.  Collier,  a  student  in  Brown  University,  organized  a  similar 
school  in  Pawtucket,  Rhode  Island.  These  schools  were  all  individual  enter 
prises.  The  first  Sunday  School  in  New  England  for  distinctively  religious  in 
struction  was  commenced  at  Bath,  New  Hampshire,  in  1805,  by  Rev.  David 
Sutherland,  a  Scotch  minister,  who  had  been  previously  engaged  in  efforts  to 
form  Sunday  Schools  in  his  native  country.  This  Sunday  School  idea  advanced 
slowly  at  first.  In  1810  two  schools  were  organized  at  Concord  and  Beverly, 
Mass.,  in  1813;  four  in  1814;  as  many  in  1815,  and  fifteen  or  twenty  in  1816.  In 
January,  1816,  a  "female  union  for  the  promotion  of  Sunday  Schools"  was  organ 
ized  in  New  York,  and  a  month  later  the  New  York  Sunday  School  Union  was 

5  C.  R. 


66  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


formed,  and  during  the  same  year  "the  Boston  Society  for  the  moral  and  relig 
ious  instruction  of  the  poor"  was  formed.  These  societies  gave  a  new  impulse  to 
the  work,  and  Sunday  Schools  were  organized  in  nearly  all  the  churches  of  the 
country  within  the  next  decade.  In  April,  1816,  two  young  men  organized  a 
school  at  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  which  soon  increased  to  100  scholars.  The  next 
Sunday  School  in  Ohio,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  was  at  Marietta. 
In  1814,  a  moral  society  was  organized  here,  and  in  January,  1817,  this  society 
laid  plans  for  Sunday  School  work.  May  II,  1817,  three  schools  were  organized, 
one  at  the  Muskingum  Academy,  under  the  care  of  Mr.  E.  Huntington ;  one  at 
Buell's  school  room  at  the  Point,  under  the  care  of  Mr.  William  Slocumb ;  and 
one  at  Point  Harmar,  under  the  care  of  Dr.  John  Cotton.  These  schools  were 
held  at  different  hours,  and  a  few  scholars  attended  more  than  one.  In  these 
schools  were  a  corps  of  volunteer  teachers  who  were  engaged  for  a  certain  number 
of  weeks  and  then  others  took  their  places.  It  was  not  until  two  years  later  that 
teachers  were  secured  to  attend  the  same  classes  during  the  entire  season.  The 
first  summer  the  schools  continued  20  weeks ;  a  considerable  sum  of  money  was 
raised  and  sent  to  the  New  York  Sunday  School  Union  for  books,  but  for  some 
unexplained  cause  these  books  were  not  received  until  the  spring  of  1818.  One 
of  the  most  important  exercises  in  these  schools  was  the  repetition  of  Scriptural 
verses  which  had  been  memorized  during  the  week. 

In  the  report  of  these  schools  for  1818,  we  find  that  the  scholars  had  mem 
orized  45,784  verses.  The  largest  number  by  one  scholar  was  3,517,  and  the 
largest  number  recited  by  one  scholar  on  one  Sunday,  362.  But  the  spirit  of  the 
scholars  was  up,  and  the  opening  of  the  school  in  the  spring  of  1819  found  them 
prepared  for  new  contests  and  victories.  During  that  summer  107,617  verses 
were  committed  to  memory  (equal  to  memorizing  the  whole  Bible  nearly  three 
and  one-half  times).  One  scholar  (in  the  school  at  Muskingum  Academy) 
learned  11,448  verses,  more  than  one-third  of  the  whole  Bible,  and  another  (at 
Point  Harmar),  learned  7,238.  This  habit  of  memorizing  Scripture  was  found 
very  profitable,  but  it  has  been  almost  entirely  superseded  by  other  forms  of 
instruction.  During  the  summer  of  1818,  Miss  Hannah  Matthews,  a  cripple  who 
lived  about  six  miles  up  the  Muskingum  River,  taught  about  twenty  children  in 
her  own  home,  and  Miss  Sophia  Barker,  who  lived  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river,  taught  about  the  same  number  'in  her  home.  Thus  the  Sunday  School 
work  was  inaugurated  in  the  Northwest,  and  from  that  time  it  extended  with 
great  rapidity.  It  has  tested  and  developed  new  methods  until  it  has  become 
one  of  the  most  efficient  and  successful  methods  of  Christian  work.  Not  only 
must  every  church  have  its  Sunday  School,  they  are  also  sustained  in  remote  dis 
tricts,  both  in  the  city  and  country. 

The  development  of  Sunday  School  literature  has  been  mainly  during  the 
past  half-century,  and  now  occupies  some  of  the  best  talent  of  the  country.  The 
first  Sunday  School  library  in  Boston,  and  one  of  the  first  in  the  country,  was  the 
gift  of  a  benevolent  gentleman,  and  consisted  of  fifty-four  books,  as  follows  : 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  67 


five  Bibles ;  twelve  New  Testaments ;  twelve  Watt's  Shorter  Catechism ;  twelve 
Watt's  Divine  Songs  for  children ;  and  twelve  Hymns  for  infant  minds.  These 
songs  and  hymns  were  committed  to  memory.  The  era  of  Sunday  School  singing 
had  not  then  arrived.  From  such  a  beginning  we  now  have  scores  of  publish 
ers  and  lesson  helps,  library  and  singing  books  are  published  by  millions.  The 
hearts  of  the  Church,  as  well  as  of  the  parents  are  turned  toward  the  children, 
and  these  leaves  for  their  instruction  are  scattered  everywhere.  These  have  not 
always  been  the  best,  but  by  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  we  are  pro 
ducing  a  valuable  literature  for  children. 

The  Robert  Raikes  movement  in  England  was  among  the  poor,  and  in  this 
country,  even  after  the  instruction  became  religious,  the  work  was  principally 
among  the  poor,  as  is  suggested  by  the  name  of  one  of  the  earliest  societies 
(already  mentioned),  "The  Boston  Society  for  the  Moral  and  Religious  Instruc 
tion  of  the  Poor."  Dr.  Lymen  Beecher  observed  this  tendency  and  resolved  to 
correct  it  in  his  parish.  He  visited  one  of  the  most  influential  men  in  the  town 
and  said :  "Judge  W.,  I  want  you  to  bring  your  children  to  the  Sunday  School 
next  Sunday."  "Me?"  exclaimed  the  Judge  in  amazement.  "Yes,  you,"  said 
Mr.  Beecher.  "  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  take  my  children,  and  I  want  you 
and  a  few  others  of  the  best  families  to  popularize  the  thing."  After  a  little  ex. 
planation  the  Judge  agreed  to  take  his  children.  Dr.  Beecher  then  went  to  the 
most  aristocratic  lady  in  his  congregation,  and  told  her  he  wanted  her  to  lead 
her  two  daughters  to  the  Sunday  School  next  Sunday.  Mrs.  S.  almost  shouted 
with  amazement ;  but  when  she  learned  that  Dr.  Beecher  and  Judge  W.  would 
take  their  children,  she  consented,  as  did  others,  and  from  that  time  the  Sunday 
School  received  a  new  impulse. 

The  Sunday  School  idea  has  been  so  thoroughly  developed,  that  at  the 
present  time  nearly  1,000,000  educated  men  and  women  are  employed  in  our 
country  as  officers  and  teachers.  These  persons  give  an  hour  on  Sunday  to 
gratuitous  instruction,  and  most  of  them  devote  several  hours  during  the  week  to 
preparation  and  visitation.  These  schools  are  within  the  reach  of  nearly  every 
child  in  the  land.  It  is  difficult  to  find  a  child  who  does  not  know  something  of 
this  instruction,  and  all  classes  of  people,  even  the  boys  in  Reform  schools,  and 
criminals  in  the  Penitentiary,  sing  hymns  learned  in  the  Sunday  School. 

The  schools  in  our  land  are,  in  round  numbers,  100,000,  with  an  enrollment 
of  nearly  10,000,000.  In  our  State  of  Ohio,  we  have  6,751  schools  with  an  en 
rollment  of  706,163,  and  in  the  original  Northwest  Territory,  23,000  schools  with 
an  enrollment  of  2,000,000.  We  are  learning  practically  to  labor  to  influence 
the  mind  in  the  tender  years  of  youth,  and  are  seizing  the  golden  opportunity  to 
impress  Gospel  truth  upon  the  heart.  As  a  result,  the  great  majority  of  all  who 
are  received  to  our  churches,  come  in  youth,  and  the  average  age  at  conversion 
is  growing  less  with  every  decade.  The  successes  of  the  past  are  a  promise  of  still 
richer  fruits  in  the  years  to  come,  and  it  becomes  us  to  increase  our  diligence  and 
faithfulness  in  this  branch  of  Christian  work. 


68  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


The  Prophet  Ezekiel  saw  in  vision  waters  issuing  from  the  House  of  God. 
As  he  observed  the  stream  his  guide  measured  1,000  cubits  and  found  the  water 
to  the  ankles ;  he  measured  another  1,000  and  found  it  to  the  knees  ;  still  another 
1,000  and  it  was  to  the  loins;  t>ut  when  he  had  measured  the  fourth  1,000,  it  was 
too  deep  to  pass  over — a  river  to  swim  in.  .  This  vision  is  a  good  type  of  the 
Sunday  School  movement  of  the  past  century.  Though  there  had  been  four  or 
five  schools  at  an  earlier  date,  I  am  not  sure  there  was  a  school  in  existence  in 
this  country  when  the  pioneers  first  set  foot  upon  this  soil.  Soon  the  waters 
began  to  issue  from  the  house  of  God  here  on  Campus  Martius.  The  stream 
grew  slowly  at  first,  but  by  and  by  it  rose  to  the  ankles ;  then  to  the  knees  and 
then  to  the  loins,  and  then  how  quickly  it  swelled  to  a  flood,  rising  in  majesty, 
and  sweeping  on  more  beautifully  and  more  grandly  than  our  Ohio  as  it  rolls 
toward  the  Father  of  Waters.  It  has  risen  until  its  banks  were  full ;  it  has  over 
flown  its  banks,  and  knows  no  insurmountable  barrier.  It  is  destined  to  sweep 
on  and  gather  volume  as  it  goes  until  it  enguifs  the  world,  not  with  a  deluge  of 
destruction,  but  with  a  flood  of  salvation,  and  in  the  ages  to  come  its  trophies 
shall  be  a  countless  number  of  redeemed  souls,  jewels  which  shall  forever  sparkle 
in  the  Savior's  diadem.  [Applause.] 

Gov.  Foraker :  The  audience  are  requested  to  join  with 
the  Chorus  in  singing  the  hymn  "  America ;"  at  the  close  of 
which  the  benediction  will  be  pronounced  by  the  Rev.  William 
Addy,  D.  D.,  without  further  announcement. 

After  the  singing  of  the  hymn  "America,"  Rev.  William 
Addy,  D.  D.,  in  pronouncing  the  benediction,  said  : 

May  the  blessing  of  God  Almighty,  the  love  of  Our  Lord,  Jesus  Christ,  and 
the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit  be  and  remain  with  us  all.  Amen. 

Gov.  Foraker :  I  am  requested  to  announce  the  pro 
gramme  for  to-morrow  : 

At  9  o'clock  in  the  morning  there  will  be  a  "  Civic  and 
Military  Parade." 

At  1 1  o'clock  A.  M.,  in  this  Centennial  Hall,  the  exercises 
provided  for  the  day  will  be  entered  upon.  First,  there  will 
be  an  "  Address  of  Welcome  ;"  after  which  the  Hon.  Daniel 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  69 

McDonald,  of  Indiana,  presiding,  an  address  will  be  delivered 
by  Hon.  B.  Wilson  Smith,  representing  the  State  of  Indiana. 

In  the  afternoon  Hon.  John  Strecker  will  preside.  There 
will  be  at  this  session  an  address  delivered  in  the  German  lan 
guage  by  Hon.  Charles  Reemelin,  of  Ohio  ;  after  which  there 
will  be  an  address  by  Judge  Cassady,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  State  of  Wisconsin  ;  to  be  followed  by  Prof.  J.  D.  Butler, 
LL.  D.,  representing  the  State  of  Wisconsin. 

In  the  evening  President  John  Eaton  will  preside,  and  an 
address  will  be  delivered  by  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Livermore,  of  Mas 
sachusetts  ;  after  which  there  will  be  a  grand  display  of  fire 
works  on  the  Ohio  River. 

You  are  now  dismissed. 


7O  REPORT   OF    THE   COMMISSIONERS   OF   THE 


fROQRAMJviE: 


MONDAY,  JULY  16,   1888—9   O'CLOCK  A.  M. 

Civic  and  Military  Parade. 
II  A.  M Music  by  Elgin  Band. 

Meeting  called  to  order,  by S.  M.  McMillen, 

Chairman  Committee  of  One  Hundred. 

Address  of  Welcome Gov.  J.  B.  Foraker. 

Hon.  Daniel  McDonald,  of  Indiana,  presiding. 

MUSIC. 

Address  by Hon.  B.  Wilson  Smith, 

Representing  Indiana. 

MUSIC. 


AFTERNOON— 1:30  O'CLOCK. 

Hon.  John  Strecker,  presiding. 
MUSIC. 

German  Address Hon.  Charles  Reemelin,  of  Ohio. 

MUSIC. 

2.30  P.  M. — Judge  Cassady,  of  Supreme  Court  of  Wisconsin,  presiding,  who  will 
also  deliver  short  addresses. 

MUSIC. 


EVENING— %  O'CLOCK. 

President  John  Eaton,  presiding. 

Address Mrs.  Mary  A.  Livermore,  of  Massachusetts. 

MUSIC. 
—  p.  M. — Grand  display  of  Fire-Works  on  the  Ohio  River. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  7! 

MORNING  SESSION— MONDAY,  JULY  16,  1888. 

ii  O'CLOCK.— Hon.  S.  M.  McMillen,  presiding. 

The  proceedings  of  this  morning  were  opened  by  music 
from  the  Elgin  Band.  After  which  the  meeting  was  called  to 
order  by  S.  M.  McMillen,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  One 
Hundred,  who  made  the  following  remarks: 

Address  of  Hor\.  5.  M. 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN,  CITIZENS  OF  THE  NORTHWEST  :  As  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred  Citizens  representing  the  people  of  Marietta, 
under  whom  this  celebration  has  been  projected  and  managed,  it  affords  me  great 
pleasure  to  extend  to  you  the  greetings  of  the  people  of  Marietta.  [Applause.] 

In  doing  so  I  am  assured  that  our  people  are  united  in  extending  this  cordial 
welcome  of  you  to  our  city. 

The  event  which  we  are  assembled  here  to-day  to  celebrate,  the  establish 
ment  of  civil  government  under  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  is  one  of  vast  import 
ance  to  all  people;  not  only  to  the  people  of  the  great  Northwest,  but  to  the 
people  of  the  entire  land,  and  the  people  of  all  nations.  It  is  an  event  in  our 
history,  in  my  estimation,  second  only  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and 
the  formation  of  our  Constitution,  the  charter  of  American  liberty.  [Applause.] 

There  has  been  great  advancement  made  in  this  great  Northwest  during  the 
past  century,  at  the  beginning  of  which,  when  the  officers  of  the  United  States 
who  were  appointed  in  pursuance  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787  assembled  here  upon 
this  spot  for  the  purpose  of  inaugurating  civil  government. 

Our  material  progress  has  been  great;  but,  my  fellow-citizens,  it  has  not  ex 
ceeded  the  progress  that  has  been  made  in  liberal  ideas  in  this  country.  The 
barriers  at  that  time  which  divided  people  and  races  and  religious  denominations, 
have  been  largely  broken  down  within  the  century ;  and  we  meet  here  to-day 
American,  German,  Irishman,  colored  man,  Protestant  and  Catholic,  all  rejoicing 
in  the  work  that  was  inaugurated  here  one  hundred  years  ago.  [Applause]. 

This  progress  will  make  itself  felt  upon  centuries  yet  to  come,  and  we  feel 
proud  because  we  have  the  distinction  of  being  the  place,  and  we  are  now  upon 
the  spot,  on  which  this  system  of  civil  liberty  was  given  to  the  people. 

I  will  not  detain  you  with  any  further  remarks  upon  this  subject,  as  our  dis 
tinguished  Governor  is  here  for  the  purpose  of  extending  a  welcome  to  all  the 
people  on  behalf  of  the  State  of  Ohio.  [Applause]. 


72  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS   OF    THE 

Governor  J.  B.  Foraker  then  stepped  to  the   front  of  the 
platform  and  said : 

/\ddress   of  j-lorv   tJ.   B.  ForaUer, 

GOVERNOR  OF  OHIO. 


MR.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  Almost  every  city  in  the  State 
of  Ohio  has  either  had,  or  is  intending  to  have,  a  centennial  celebration  during 
this  year ;  but  I  believfe  that  Marietta  is  the  only  one  that  has  had  the  good  for 
tune  to  have  two  such  demonstrations.  [Applause].  But  that  is  all  right.  It  is 
impossible  for  Marietta  to  have  too  much  of  anything  that  is  good.  [Renewed 
applause  and  laughter].  She  ought  to  have  two  such  celebrations  as  this,  because 
in  the  year  1788  she  had  two  historical  events  of  such  importance  transpire  here 
that  it  is  impossible  to  honor  them  too  greatly.  [Cheers]. 

One  of  these  was  the  establishment  here  on  the  7th  day  of  April,  1788,  of 
the  first  permanent  white  settlement  on  Ohio  soil.  The  other  was  the  institution 
of  civil  government  here  on  the  I5th  of  July  following. 

The  first  of  these  events  has  already  been  worthily,  suitably,  succesfully  and 
even  grandly  celebrated.  I  was  here  to  help  to  do  it,  and  I  know  what  I  am 
talking  about.  [Laughter  and  applause]. 

We  have  now  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  celebrating  the  second  of  these 
events.  We  have  come  here  to  have  this  celebration,  however,  not  simply  be 
cause  at  that  time,  and  at  this  place,  there  was  established  a  civil  government, 
but  because  of  the  character  of  that  government.  There  is  nothing  exceptional 
in  the  fact  that  a  government  was  instituted  here ;  nothing  to  celebrate  in  that 
mere  fact.  Civilized  communities  can  not  live,  and  will  not  live,  without  govern 
ment.  They  will  have  government  of  one  kind  or  another,  specified,  defined 
and  established.  That  is  more  important  to  them  than  homes;  more  important 
than  farms,  or  lands,  or  any  kind  of  earthly  possessions.  They  must  have  gov 
ernment,  and  hence  it  naturally  and  inevitably  followed,  just  as  the  night  follows 
the  day,  that  when  Gen.  Putnam  and  his  band  of  pioneers  established  a  settle 
ment  here,  civil  government  would  shortly  follow.  But  it  did  not  follow  that  it 
would  be  a  good  government.  It  did  not  follow  that  it  would  be  a  government 
that  we  would  want  to  celebrate  the  establishment  of  one  hundred  years  later. 
It  might  have  been  a  bad  government.  In  that  event  we  should  not  have  been 
here  as  we  are  to-day.  But,  fortunately,  it  was  a  good  government,  and  we  are  here 
to  speak  its  praise ;  we  are  here  to  rejoice  on  account  of  that  event ;  for,  when 
they  established  a  government  in  accordance  with  the  ideas  expressed  in  the  or 
dinance  of  1787;  a  government  that  recognized  human  liberty  and  human 
equality,  they  secured  blessings  unspeakable,  not  only  to  themselves,  as  the  im- 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  73 


mediate  and  direct  recipients  and  beneficiaries  of  it ;  blessings  not  only  to  the 
whole  State  of  Ohio,  as  Mr.  McMillan  said  a  moment  ago,  and  the  Northwest,  and 
the  United  States,  and  the  millions  of  people  who  live  across  the  waters ;  but 
they  secured  blessings  unspeakable  also  to  the  millions  yet  unborn  who  are  to  be 
reached  and  touched  by  its  beneficent  provisions.  [Applause.] 

That  being  the  case,  it  goes  without  the  saying,  that  we  are  celebrating  an 
event  of  much  more  than  local  significance.  It  is  an  event  of  national  character, 
of  common  concern  to  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States. 

The  people  who  had  this  occasion  in  charge  recognized  that  idea  with  respect 
to  it  from  the  beginning.  Therefore,  they  esteemed  it  their  duty,  as  well  as  their 
pleasure,  to  invite  the  co-operation  in  the  exercises  that  constitute  this  celebra 
tion,  of  all  the  other  sister  commonwealths  of  the  Union.  They  cordially  ex 
tended  their  invitations  to  that  effect,  and  most  liberally,  and  these  invitations 
have  been  most  generously  accepted.  In  consequence  we  have  present  with  us 
to-day,  not  only  to  honor  us  by  their  presence,  but  to  delight  us  with  the  words 
which  they  are  to  utter,  official  representatives  of  various  other  of  our  sister 
States.  And  the  pleasing  duty  has  been  devolved  upon  me  of  bidding  them 
welcome,  not  only  to  Ohio  and  Marietta,  but  to  the  homes  and  the  hearts  of  our 
people.  [Applause]. 

We  sincerely  trust  that  our  guests  will  enjoy  themselves  while  they  are 
among  us ;  that  they  will  have  here  only  agreeable  experiences ;  that  they  will 
carry  away  with  them  only  pleasing  recollections ;  that  Marietta  and  the  Cen 
tennial  celebration  of  July  15  and  19,  1888,  will  forever  be  a  pleasing  spot  in 
their  memories.  [Applause].  But  what  we  hope  for,  over  and  above  all  else,  is 
that  you  will  carry  away  with  you  benefit  as  men  and  as  citizens  of  this  Republic. 
We  want  to  send  you  away  from  here  having,  if  that  be  possible,  a  higher  appre 
ciation  than  you  have  ever  yet  experienced  for  our  free  American  institutions; 
our  civil  and  religious  liberty.  [Applause].  We  want  to  send  you  home  com 
mitted  more  strongly  than  you  have  ever  yet  felt  yourselves  to  be  to  the  greatest 
and  highest  duty  of  American  citizenship ;  that  of  not  only  promoting  the  char 
acter  of  our  civil  government,  and,  by  that  agency,  human  welfare,  but  also  of 
preserving  and  perpetuating  these  institutions  of  our  fathers  to  our  children  and 
our  children's  children.  [Applause].  We  want  you  to  have,  if  possible,  a  loftier 
patriotism  and  a  higher,  broader  and  nobler  pride  of  country  than  you  have  ever 
yet  been  able  to  have.  We  expect  to  get  all  these  benefits  for  ourselves,  and  we 
want  to  be  generous  enough  to  have  everybody  else  in  the  country  get  the  same 
result.  [Applause].  If  we  can  accomplish  these  objects,  all  the  labor  and  all 
the  toil  and  money  and  trouble  that  have  been  expended  on  account  of  this  oc 
casion,  will  be  accounted  to  have  been  well  and  wisely  and  worthily  spent.  For, 
with  these  objects  accomplished,  we  shall  feel  we  have  a  new  assurance  that  the 
people  of  this  country  are  entering  upon  a  second  century  of  our  governmental 
existence,  pledged  to  still  grander  triumphs  for  government  and  humanity  than 
any  that  have  been  accomplished  during  the  century  that  has  just  closed. 


74  REPORT   OF   THE   COMMISSIONERS   OF    THE 


It  is  in  that  spirit  this  occasion  has  been  conceived.  It  is  in  that  spirit  you 
have  been  invited  to  be  present  with  us  to-day,  and  it  is  in  that  spirit  that  I 
thank  you  for  your  presence,  and  again  bid  you  welcome.  [Applause.] 


Gov.  Foraker,  in  introducing  Hon.  John  H.  Stetsenberg, 
then  said : 

On  the  programme  you  will  see  that  the  Hon.  Daniel  Mc 
Donald,  of  Indiana,  one  of  the  Commissioners  appointed  by 
the  Governor  of  that  State  to  represent  that  commonwealth 
here  to-day,  was  to  have  been  the  presiding  officer.  But  Mr. 
McDonald  is  not  present.  At  least,  if  he  is,  he  is  not  ac 
counted  for.  But  Indiana  is  always  ready  to  supply  a  substi 
tute,  and  she  has  got  one  here  worthy  of  that  State,  in  the 
person  of  Hon.  John  H.  Stetsenberg,  whom  I  now  have  the 
honor  of  presenting  to  you. 

Address   of    Horv.  JoKr\   H.   5tetser\berg, 

OF  INDIANA. 


MEN  AND  WOMEN  OF  THE  GREAT  NORTHWEST  :  This  is  Indiana's  morn 
ing — a  bright  and  beautiful  day  for  this  Centennial  Celebration^  As  the  Gov 
ernor  says,  Indiana  is  always  to  the  front,  and  while  I  regret  that  Mr.  McDonald 
is  not  here,  it  gives  me  a  chance  that  I  won't  have  again  in  a  hundred  years,  to 
preside  over  this  magnificent  convention  of  the  people  of  the  Northwest. 

I  imagine  that  if  the  worthies  of  a  hundred  years  ago  were  here,  with 
Rufus  Putnam  or  Return  Jonathan  Meigs,  or,  if  any  of  those  patriots  could 
come  back  in  the  flesh  to  preside  here,  he  would  say,  "  Let  us  come  to  order  and 
proceed  with  the  business  of  the  day."  And  while  I  would  like  to  talk  to  you 
about  the  Northwest,  and  especially  about  Indiana,  I  will  bide  my  time.  And 
now,  I  call  this  meeting  to  order,  and  I  have  the  pleasure  of  presenting  to  you 
the  Hon.  B.  Wilson  Smith,  of  Lafayette,  Indiana,  who  will  address  you  upon 
Indiana. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  75 

According  to  the  announcement  of  the  programme,  the 
band  then  played  selections,  after  which  Hon.  B.  Wilson  Smith 
delivered  his  address: 

Address  of  J4on.  B.  Wilsorv  Smith, 

OF  INDIANA. 


The  organization  of  a  State  may  be  the  founding  of  an  Empire.  The  proc 
lamation  of  civil  law,  the  harbinger  of  an  epoch,  the  culmination  of  whose 
glory  shall  be  a  sheen  of  starry  splendor,  and  the  weird  power  of  whose  en 
chantment  the  mighty  spell  of  the  centuries. 

So  it  proved  a  hundred  years  ago,  when  Gen.  Arthur  St.  Clair  and  Winthrop 
Sargent,  Judges  Samuel  Holden  Parsons,  James  Mitchell  Varnum  and  John 
Cleves  Symmes  launched  the  Ship  of  State  in  this  Western  wilderness. 

To  the  casual  observer  it  boded  no  high  prophecy — was  no  augury  of  high 
promise.  The  great  Miami  nation  held  undisputed  sway  over  -all  this  wide 
country,  from  the  Lakes  to  the  Ohio,  from  the  Scioto  westward  to  the  Mississippi. 
They  were  reinforced  by  the  newly  arrived,  warlike  Shawnees,  who  have  given 
to  the  world  the  fierce  and  unconquerable  Black-hoof,  the  gallant  warrior  and 
peerless  orator,  King  Cornstalk,  the  brave  and  diplomatic  Blue-jacket,  and  later 
the  renowned  and  unsurpassed  Tecumseh,  and  his  brother,  Law-le-was-i-ki,  the 
prophet.  They  had  been  recently  joined  by  valiant  Wyandots  and  the  stately 
Delawares.  Their  great  allies  were  almost  equal  in  courage,  skill  and  influence 
to  the  Miamis  themselves.  At  the  head  of  these  powerful  tribes  at  that  time 
were  their  great  leaders,  Little  Turtle,  of  the  Miamis,  Blue-jacket  of  the  Shaw 
nees,  Tarke,  (of  Crane)  of  the  Wyandots,  and  Buck-on-ga-ho-las,  of  the  Dela 
wares  ;  four  Indian  warriors  worthy  to  be  ranked  with  Philip,  of  Pokanoket, 
Red  Jacket,  Pontiac,  Cornstalk,  Tecumseh  and  Osceola.  What  better  could  be 
hoped  for  these  feeble  colonies  than  that  their  trusted,  sagacious,  and  warlike 
leaders  would  form  a  confederacy  like  Philip's  and  Pontiac's  and  sweep  them  back 
across  the  Ohio,  across  the  Alleghanies  to  the  seaboard,  even  if  they  permitted 
one  to  remain  to  tell  the  story  of  their  colonial  tragedy. 

We  repeat,  a  casual  view  is  prophetic  of  no  great  empire.  It  was  as 
inauspicious  as  the  founding  of  the  city  of  the  Twin  Brothers  on  the  hills  of 
the  Palatine,  or  the  landing  of  the  Trojan  exiles,  "  long  tossed  by  angry  and 
inhospitable  seas,"  at  Alba  Longa.  But  the  founders  of  this  State  were 
grander  men  than  Romulus  and  Remus,  wiser  statesmen  and  more  tried 
warriors  than  Aeneas  and  his  faithful  Achates.  Their  blood  was  nobler 
than  any  Trojan  or  Albanian  strain.  It  was  Anglo-Saxon,  instinct  with 


76  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF     THE 


valor,  hot  with  love  of  battle,  pregnant  with  imperial  sway.  The  heroes 
of  1788  were  soldiers  tried  in  battle,  statesmen  skilled  in  res  civium,  di 
vines  schooled  in  the  philosophy  of  Providence  ;  and  all  of  them  lovers  of  equal 
ity,  and  jealous  of  the  rights  of  men.  Israel  and  Rufus  Putnam  were  soldiers 
worthy  of  high  place  in  any  war.  Nathaniel  Hale,  a  legislator  worthy  of  the 
immortal  Congress  in  which  he  served.  And  Manasseh  Cutler  was  a  man  whose 
lofty  character  and  statesman-like  deeds  were  worthy  of  the  matchless  pen  of  the 
great  Xenophon.  But  this  is  not  all.  The  leaders  in  the  founding  of  this  State 
were  men  inured  to  hardships  in  war,  heroes  who  battled  for  freedom  and  inde 
pendence,  the  worshipers  of  an  idea  which  finally  concreted  stands  forth  to-day 
a  colossal  nation  of  sixty  millions  of  people  and  fifty-five  thousand  millions  of 
national  wealth  ;  and  yet  grander  and  more  glorious  than  all,  every  man  a  free 
man,  a  nation  whose  flag  floats  over  only  freemen — not  a  single  slave.  Associated 
in  this  colonization — this  State  building — was  the  powerful  society  of  Cincinnatus, 
which  organized  in  the  Army  of  Independence,  inured  to  hardships,  devoted  to 
liberty,  and  by  long  years  of  toil  and  suffering  for  a  country  whose  penury  was 
equaled  only  by  the  devotion  of  her  army,  wedded  their  names  to  immortal  fame 
by  their  deeds.  The  hour  had  struck  on  the  clock  of  ages,  whose  huge  pendu 
lum  swings  to  and  fro  ever  the  arch  of  the  centuries,  when  this  wonderful  land 
of  seas,  lakes,  rivers  and  plains,  of  lofty  mountains  and  sunny  skies,  of  mineral 
wealth  and  virgin  soil  should  take  on  new  and  higher  types  of  nationality  ;  where 
the  ideas  of  man's  equality  before  the  law  and  in  society,  drafted  in  the  cabin  of 
the  Mayflower  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  years  before,  should  be  formulated 
into  law  and  consecrated  in  the  State.  Washington  favored  it ;  the  genius  of 
Hamilton  indorsed  it ;  the  philanthropy  of  Jefferson  formulated  the  deed  of 
cession,  and  grand  Old  Virginia  confirmed  it  by  her  General  Assembly.  When 
I  remember  how  grand  my  native  State  .was  in  the  eighteenth  century,  I  can  but 
forgive  her  suicidal  act  of  April  20,  1861,  when,  by  a  vote  of  her  Convention, 
which  history  will  always  note  as  marked  by  punic  faith,  she  declared  for  seces 
sion  from  the  Nation  to  which  she  had  given  both  her  fealty  and  the  rich  gift  of 
the  dominion  of  five  of  the  fairest  daughters  that  ever  shone  in  the  galaxy  of 
States,  or  blended  in  the  compact  of  nationality. 

Bringing,  as  I  do  to-day,  the  cordial  greetings  of  Indiana  to  her  sisters  born 
from  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  and  to  the  other  States,  for  we  are  many  in  one,  with 
a  common  history,  family  kinship  and  a  national  destiny,  you  will  allow  me  to 
particularize  a  little  more. 

Indiana,  though  but  seventy-two  years  old  in  statehood,  and  eighty-eight, 
including  separate  territorial  existence,  joins  in  this  hundredth  anniversary  of 
her  sister  Ohio  and  other  States,  not  as  a  centenarian,  but  as  a  full-grown  sister 
nearing  her  majority.  She  asks  a  share  in  the  hand-shaking,  the  story-telling, 
the  house-warming,  and  the  general  wonderment — how  from  such  small  begin 
nings  such  mighty  results  have  come.  She  bids  me  to  say  to  you  to-day,  that 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.        77 


though  she  once  mistrusted  the  story  of  Aladin  and  his  homely  lamp,  and  other 
improbable  tales  of  the  Arabian  Nights — when  she  looks  at  Wisconsin,  the  home 
of  the  stalwart  Rusk  ;  at  Michigan,  the  wonderful  peninsula  and  her  great  tri 
bune,  Governor  Luce ;  and  at  Illinois  and  Chicago,  her  great  soldier-statesman, 
Richard  J.  Oglesby ;  and  at  Ohio,  land  of  the  nutritious  buckeye,  home  of  beau 
tiful  women,  nurse  of  great  cities  and  prosperous  farms,  and  blessed  with  good 
men,  brave  and  true  enough  to  fill  all  the  offices  and  some  to  spare ;  and  last,  but 
not  least,  her  young  and  gallant  Governor,  whose  devotion  to  the  Union  and  the 
flag  fills  every  loyal  heart  with  thrilling  emotion  and  every  eye  with  patriotic 
fire.  She  says  go  on  with  your  stories — there  surely  has  been  magic,  some  won 
derful  lamp  or  magician  in  this  marvelous  outcome  of  only  one  hundred  years  ! 
Eight  families,  mostly  males,  April  17,  1788 — fifteen  millions  of  people  to-day! 
Wealth  then — only  broad  acres  not  paid  for,  strong  right  arms — grand  purposes 
and  faith  in  God!  The  balance  of  the  inventory  "extreme  extremities"  of  pov 
erty — to-day — a  wealth  surpassing  that  of  ancient  "  Persia  and  the  Ind."  Then  a 
people  just  through  the  throes  of  a  terrible  war,  without  credit,  without  currency, 
without  a  nationality.  The  constitution  had  been  made  but  a  year.  Its  provis 
ion,  that  its  adoption  by  nine  of  the  States  should  make  it  binding  as  to  them, 
had  only  been  secured  a  few  days  when  Gen.  St.  Clair  assumed  the  civic  robes 
and  entered  upon  the  duties  as  Governor  of  the  Northwest  Territory. 

One  hundred  years  ago  the  Fourth  of  July  was  celebrated  with  but  ten 
States  in  the  Union  under  the  constitution.  This  year  we  celebrate  it  with  thirty- 
eight  stars  in  the  blue  field  of  our  National  ensign  ;  and  before  another  Fourth  of 
July  five  more  stars  will  be  added — five  more  sisters  from  the  North  and  West. 
God  speed  the  day  when  all  the  territories  shall  have  assumed  statehood  under 
constitutions  and  laws  republican  in  form  and  in  harmonious  accord  with  the 
genius  of  a  Christian  civilization. 

The  territory  of  Indiana  was  set  off  by  act  of  Congress  dated  May  7,  1800. 
On  the  I3th  of  the  same  month  William  Henry  Harrison,  a  native  of  Virginia, 
was  appointed  Governor.  On  the  day  following  John  Gibson,  of  Pennsylvania, 
a  distinguished  Western  pioneer,  to  whom  Logan,  the  chief  of  the  Mingoes,  de 
livered  the  celebrated  speech,  "I  appeal  to  any  white  man  to  say,"  etc.,  was  ap 
pointed  Secretary  ;  and  shortly  afterward  William  Clark,  Henry  Vanderburg  and 
John  Griffin  were  appointed  Judges.  The  seat  of  government  was  fixed  at  Vin- 
cennes,  a  French  town  known  during  the  French  occupancy  by  quite  a  number 
of  names,  but  best  as  Port  St.  Vincent.  The  territory  of  Indiana  included  all 
the  area  of  the  Northwest  Territory  excepting  that  part  retained  in  the  territory 
of  Ohio.  But  by  an  act  of  Congress,  March  26,  1804,  the  jurisdiction  of  Indiana 
territory  was  extended  over  the  whole  of  Louisiana  territory  lying  north  of  the 
thirty-third  degree  of  north  latitude.  This  included  that  portion  of  the  French 
possession  known  as  the  Ninth  district  under  the  French  division  of  1721,  and 
was  called  Illinois. 


78  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


By  an  act  of  Congress,  January  n,  1805,  the  territory  of  Michigan  was  set 
off  from  Indiana  territory  and  organized  June  30,  1805. 

Still  the  remaining  territory  of  Indiana  was  of  such  wide  extent,  its  center 
of  population  so  widely  removed,  each  from  the  other,  and  separated  by  such 
trackless  wildernesses,  that  the  successive  legislatures  of  1806,  1807  and  1808,  pe 
titioned  and  memorialized  Congress  to  divide  the  territory  again  and  set  off 
Indiana  to  herself.  Accordingly,  Congress  by  an  act  February  3,  1809,  declared 
that  on  and  after  March  I,  1809,  all  that  part  of  Indiana  territory  lying  west  of 
the  present  Western  boundary  of  Indiana  and  Michigan,  should  constitute  a  sep 
arate  territory,  and  be  called  the  territory  of  Illinois.  Then  after  twenty-one 
years  of  joint  territorial  existence  under  the  ordinance  of  1787,  or  of  civil  gov 
ernment,  1788,  Indiana  stood  alone  to  begin  the  race  for  statehood.  The  popu 
lation  all  this  time  was  about  twenty  thousand  (20,000)  souls.  The  territory  had 
passed  into  the  second  grade  by  a  vote  of  the  people,  September  II,  1804,  and 
they  were  now  governed  by  a  legislature  of  their  own  choosing.  This  was  in 
accordance  with  the  wise  provision  of  the  ordinance  of  1787.  The  chief  interest 
of  the  territory  between  the  years  1800  and  1810,  were,  according  to  Dillon, 
"questions  of  land  titles,  negro  slavery,  the  purchase  of  Indian  lands  by  treaties, 
the  organization  of  the  territorial  legislature,  the  extension  of  the  right  of  suf 
frage,  the  division  of  Indiana  territory,  the  movements  of  Aaron  Burr,  the  hostile 
proceedings  of  the  Shawnee  chief,  Tecumseh,  and  his  brother,  the  prophet." 

At  the  time  of  the  organization  of  Indiana  Territory,  the  only  lands  to  which 
the  Indian  title  had  been  extinguished  were  those  named  in  the  treaty  of  Green 
ville.  The  land  lying  east  of  a  line  drawn  through  Fort  Recovery  to  a  point  op 
posite  the  mouth  of  the  Kentucky  river,  and  159,000  acres  granted  to  Gen. 
George  Roger  Clark  and  his  army  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  and  all  the  land  about 
Vincennes,  to  which  the  Indian  title  had  been  extinguished  by  gifts  and  cessions 
to  the  French,  and  six  miles  square  around  Fort  Uicatenon,  and  six  miles  squaie 
around  old  Ke-ki-o-ga,  or  Fort  Wayne,  and  two  miles  square  at  the  portage  of 
the  St.  Mary's  and  the  Little  Wabash,  and  whatever  may  have  been  legally  ac 
quired  by  the  French  at  Detroit  and  Kas-kas-ki-a.  All  the  after  possessions  were 
acquired  by  Indian  treaties,  by  purchase. 

By  the  treaty  of  Vincennes,  1803,  the  treaty  at  Grouseland,  1805,  and  the 
treaty  of  Ft.  Wayne,  1809,  the  titles  of  the  Indians  to  more  than  half  of  the  In 
diana  Territory  had  been  extinguished.  It  was  this  treaty  of  1809  that  gave 
mortal  offense  to  Tecumseh,  and  he  determined  that  the  surveyors  should  not 
run  the  treaty  line,  known  as  the  10  o'clock  Sun  Line,  a  line  drawn  from  the 
mouth  of  Raccoon  Creek  to  the  10  o'clock  sun,  till  it  should  intersect  the 
boundary  line  of  1805. 

This  difficulty  resulted  finally  in  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe,  which  broke  for 
ever  the  confederative  power  of  the  Indiana  of  the  Northwest. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  79 


Because  it  may  be  a  matter  of  interest,  we  present  the  census  table  of  1810. 
The  population  of  the  Indiana  Territory  in  that  year  amounted  to  24,520;  and 
there  were  in  the  Territory  33  grist  mills,  14  saw  mills,  3  horse  mills,  18  tan 
neries,  28  distilleries,  3  powder  mills,  1,256  looms  and  1,350  spinning  wheels. 
The  value  of  Indiana  manufactures,  as  reported  to  the  United  States  Treasury 
Department,  for  the  year  1810,  was  estimated  as  follows  :  Woolen,  cotton,  hemp 
and  flaxen  cloths  and  mixtures,  $159,052;  cotton  and  wool,  spun  in  mills,  $150,- 
ooo ;  nails,  (20,000  pounds)  $4,000;  leather,  tanned,  $9,300;  products  of  distil 
leries  (35,950  gallons),  $16,230 ;  gunpowder  (3,600  pounds),  $1,800;  wine  from 
grapes  (96  barrels),  §6,000;  maple  sugar  (50,000  pounds),  manufactured  value  not 
stated. 

Slavery  was  early  a  disturbing  element  in  the  territory  of  Indiana,  long  be 
fore  the  passage  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787  slavery  existed  in  Kaskaskia,  Cohakia 
and  Vincennes.  These  settlements  had  been  early  associated  with  the  rule  and 
commercial  influence  of  the  French  power  on  the  Mississippi.  In  1721,  Louis 
XV,  of  France,  had  authorized  the  company  of  the  Indies  to  import  negro  slaves 
into  the  territory  of  Louisiana.  This  had  been  permitted  by  Louis  XIII,  not  by 
statute,  but  simply  by  sufferance,  on  the  plea  of  civilizing  and  christianizing  them. 
Through  all  the  period  from  1721  to  1784,  while  the  Northwest  territory  was 
claimed  successively  by  France,  Great  Britain  and  Virginia,  the  right  to  hold 
slaves  was  not  questioned  by  any  legislative  authority.  On  March  I,  1784,  Vir 
ginia  ceded  to  the  United  States  all  her  right  to  the  Northwest  territory,  and 
July  13,  1787,  Congress,  by  ordinance,  prohibited  forever  slavery  and  involuntary 
servitude,  except  for  crimes,  from  all  this  territory.  This  humane  feature  of  the 
VI  Article  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787  was  not  very  strictly  enforced  by  the  civil 
authorities  of  the  territories  of  the  Northwest.  Indeed,  the  winking  at  slavery 
by  the  delegates  in  the  territorial  legislatures  from  the  counties  of  St.  Clair 
(Kaskaskia),  Randolph  (Detroit))  and  Knox  (Vincennes),  was  so  apparent  that 
it  gave  great  offense  to  the  counties  of  Clark  and  the  unorganized  counties  of 
Dearborn  and  Franklin. 

The  outcome  of  the  controversy  was  a  convention,  December  20,  1802,  of 
delegates,  and  an  appeal  by  petition  and  memorial  to  Congress  to  suspend  for  the 
period  of  ten  years,  the  sixth  article  of  the  ordinance  of  1787.  This  appeal  was 
answered  by  Congress  March  2,  1803,  in  a  report  presented  by  John  Randolph, 
in  which  the  following  passage  appears: 

"  The  rapidly  increasing  population  of  the  State  of  Ohio  sufficiently 
evinces,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  that  the  labor  of  slaves  is  not  necessary 
to  promote  the  growth  and  settlement  of  colonies  in  that  region ;  that  this  labor, 
demonstrably  the  dearest  of  any,  can  only  be  employed  to  advantage  in  the  cul 
tivation  of  products  more  valuable  than  any'  known  to  that  quarter  of  the 
United  States;  that  the  committee  deem  it  highly  dangerous  and  inexpedient  to 
impair  a  provision  wisely  calculated  to  promote  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of 


8O  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


the  Northwestern  country,  and  to  give  strength  and  security  to  that  extensive 
frontier."  In  the  salutary  operation  of  this  sagacious  and  benevolent  restraint,  it 
is  believed  that  the  inhabitants  of  Indiana  will,  at  no  very  distant  day,  find 
ample  remuneration  for  a  temporary  privation  of  labor  and  of  emigration.  Con 
gress  refused  to  suspend  the  sixth  article  of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  and  though 
the  Legislature  again  and  again  petitioned,  and  many  of  the  citizens  memorialized 
them  to  the  same  end,  they  remained  firm  in  their  original  decision.  Thus  was 
Indiana  saved  from  the  curse  of  negro  slavery — and  from  my  heart  to-day,  I 
thank  the  descendants  of  this  Marietta  Colony  for  the  wisdom  and  righteousness 
of  their  fathers.  The  question  was  finally  settled  in  Indiana  by  the  adoption  of 
her  State  Constitution,  and  in  the  election  of  our  first  Governor  under  the  Con 
stitution,  Jonathan  Jennings,  the  champion  of  a  free  State  over  General 
Thomas  Posey,  a  soldier  of  the  revolution,  and  appointed  to  the  Territorial  Gov 
ernorship  of  Indiana,  from  his  place  in  the  United  States  Senate  from  the  State 
of  Tennessee. 

Indiana  is  not  without  historic  interest ;  no  fertile  plains  and  rich  valleys  of 
this  latitude  are  wanting  in  traces  of  these  strange  people  wejfcall  the  Mound 
Builders,  whose  history  is  written  in  changing  sands — buildings  that  are  the  sport 
of  wind,  and  frost  and  storm,  and  worse,  than  all  the  vandalism  of  curious  cruel 
man.  But  in  the  presence  of  such  wonderful  monuments  as  those  of  Washing 
ton  county,  and  Licking  and  Adams,  of  Ohio,  ours  sink  into  insignificance,  and 
are  unworthy  of  mention.  Still  we  have  a  history  not  bounded  by  the  century, 
which  comes  before  us  in  critical  review,  in  the  series  of  celebrations  that  waken 
the  zeal  and  memories  of  youth  and  age  in  the  Ohio  valley  ;  a  history  that  was 
acted  by  the  dying  redman,  the  decaying  French  dynasty  in  the  new  world,  and 
the  growing  dominating  power  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  the  prolific,  though 
paradoxical  breeders  of  King  Craft,  and  yet  fearless  defenders  of  personal  liberty. 
Those  early  scenes  and  adventures  are  largely  laid  in  the  counties  of  Knox,  Allen 
and  Tippecanoe. 

We  have  said  that  the  powerful  Miami  Indians  inhabited  all  this  region. 
The  speech  of  Little  Turtle  at  the  treaty  of  1795,  is  accepted  as  correct  history. 

In  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  while  the  irresolute  and  in 
dolent  Charles  II  was  on  the  throne  of  England,  the  bold  and  ambitious  Louis 
XIV,  a  worthy  descendant  of  Charlemagne  in  many  respects,  was  on  the  throne 
of  France.  His  chief  of  finance,  Colbert,  was  a  statesman  of  great  ability,  and 
far-reaching  aggressiveness.  Under  this  sovereign  and  his  chief  minister,  the 
star  of  French  empire  was  pushed  westward  along  the  St.  Lawrence,  along  the 
lakes  to  the  Upper  Superior,  across  to  the  Mississippi,  and  down  that  hitherto 
almost  unheard  of  river  to  the  gulf. 

In  this  work  of  discovery,  which  |Was  the  equivalent  of  possession,  fort 
building  and  trading  post  and  mission  station  establishing  soon  followed.  The 
Jesuits  were  not  only  able  assistants,  but  almost  the  sole  adventureres.  Among 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.        8 1 


the  most  notable  of  these  were  Claude  Allonez,  Claude  Dablon,  M.  Joliet,  James 
Marquette  and  Robert  Cavalier  de  LaSalle.  They  and  their  associates  were  men 
of  genius,  undying  energy,  intense  loyalty,  and  profound  religious  enthusiasm ; 
courting  hardships,  hunger,  cold,  danger,  peril,  disease  and  even  death  by  bar 
barous  torture,  if  by  these  means  they  might  win  dominion  and  subjects  to  the 
King  of  France,  and  converts  to  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  pages  of  history  they 
have  written  and  embellished  with  their  chivalric  deeds,  are  shadowed  with  the 
glamour  of  glory-tinging,  and  read  like  fairy  tales. 

From  1670  to  1682  they  had  explored  all  of  the  territory  westward  along 
the  St.  Lawrence,  up  the  lakes  to  Mackinac,  up  the  Fox  River  and  across  to  the 
Mississippi.  (Joliet  and  Marquette  discovered  the  Mississippi  July  1773),  and 
down  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  (April  9,  1682,  by  LaSalle). 

Notwithstanding  the  French  and  English  were  at  war — King  William,  from 
1688  to  1697,  ending  with  the  treaty  of  Ryswick — still  the  aggressive  Louis  XIV 
never  let  go  his  hold  on  his  purpose  to  establish  a  chain  of  forts  from  his  Cana 
dian  possessions  westward  and  southward  to  the  gulf,  and  ere  the  dawn  of  the 
eighteenth  century  forts  were  built  and  garrisoned  at  Detroit,  Mackinac,  Fort 
Wayne,  Ouiatenon,  Vincennes  and  Kaskaskia,  and  St.  Louis.  In  all  cases  a 
trading.post  and  mission  station  were  established  with  the  fort,  and  though  the 
priest  (or  father)  was  never  the  commandant  of  the  fort,  still  he  was  often  the  agent 
of  the  French  Government,  as  was  also  the  commandant. 

Three  of  these  stations  were  in  the  boundaries  of  Indiana.  The  fort  at 
Ke-ki-on-ga,  the  old  village  of  the  Twiglitwees  (Fort  Wayne)  ;  Ouiatenon,  the 
place  of  the  Weas ;  and  St.  Vincent,  the  home  of  the  Piankeshanes.  The  con 
nection  of  the  objective  points,  Canada  and  the  Central  Mississippi  Valley,  led 
to  the  discovery  of  a  shorter  route  than  via  the  upper  lakes  and  across  to  the 
Mississippi  river.  If  you  ask  the  projectors  of  the  Hennepin  Canal,  whence 
their  idea,  they  will  point  to  the  Indians.  As  the  elk  and  buffalo  taught  the 
Indian  when  to  cast  his  trail,  so  the  Indian  taught  the  French  the  water-way 
connection  for  their  chains  of  posts  and  stations.  From  Lake  Erie  it  was  up  the 
Miami  of  the  Lakes  eighty  leagues,  to  the  junction  of  the  St.  Joseph  and  St. 
Mary's,  site  of  the  Miamitown  Kekionga  (Fort  Wayne),  thence  up  the  St.  Mary's 
nine  miles  to  the  two-miles  portage,  across  to  the  Little  Wabash,  a  deep  and 
constant  stream,  down  this  to  the  Big  Wabash,  thence  down  to  Ouiatenou,  and 
thence  down  the  same  river  to  post  St.  Vincent,  and  on  to  the  Ohio  and  up  the 
Mississippi  to  post  St.  Louis  and  Fort  Chartres,  or  passing  below  Vincennes  up 
the  Embassais  River  to  the  portage  and  down  the  Kaskaskia  te  the  post  of  the 
same  name.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  these  three  forts  in  Indiana, 
by  whatever  names  they  may  have  been  called,  were  established  as  early  as  1702. 
For  a  hundred  years  this  water-way  across  Indiana  was  used  by  Indians  and 
French  traders,  travelers  and  military  commissioners,  and  the  light  Indian  canoe 

G 


82  REPORT   OF   THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF   THE 


and  the  heavy  pirogue  were  as  familiar  on  these  waters  as  steam  vessels  to-day  on 
the  Ohio. 

In  1790  General  Joseph  Homer  was  worsted,  if  not  defeated,  in  two  engage 
ments  at  and  near  Fort  Wayne,  by  the  Indians  under  the  famous  Little  Turtle, 
chief  of  the  Miamis.  In  1794  General  Wayne,  after  the  battle  of  Fallen  Tim 
bers,  or  the  Maumee  Rapids,  occupied  this  site  of  the  second  battle  of  Ilarmar, 
and  built  a  fort  which  was  ever  afterwards  known  as  Fort  Wayne.  This  fort  was 
relieved  from  a  perilous  siege  by  General  Harrison  in  1812. 

Post  Ouiatinon  was  on  the  Wabash  River  below  the  mouth  of  Wea  Creek. 
The  fort  was  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  but  the  celebrated  town  of  Ouiatinon, 
and  its  contiguous  villages,  was  on  the  east  side  of  the  Wea  plains — a  tract  of 
country  so  beautiful  that  Calyso  and  her  nymphs  would  have  envied  it,  and  so 
luxurious  in  its  vegetation  that  it  could  fittingly  be  called  the  Garden  of  the 
Gods.  Truthfully  it  was  called  the  Garden  of  the  French  and  the  red  men.  The 
fort,  of  whose  history  we  know  but  little,  was  captured  by  strategy  from  the  En 
glish,  Lieutenant  Jenkins  commanding,  during  Pontiac's  conspiracy,  1763,  and 
probably  never  after  garrisoned.  In  1791,  June  i,  General  Charles  Scott  de 
stroyed  the  town  of  Ouiatinon  and  five  contiguous  villages,  and  the  next  day  the 
great  town  of  Keth-tip-e-ca-nunk.  In  the  August  following,  Colonel  Wilkinson, 
who  accompanied  General  Scott  in  the  previous  campaign,  visited  these  towns 
and  again  destroyed  the  temporary  houses,  the  standing  corn,  and  every  thing 
that  would  weaken  the  Indians  in  their  hold  of  the  territory,  and  strike  them 
with  awe  at  the  power  of  the  General  Government.  General  Scott  and  Colonel 
Wilkinson  report  that  they  destroyed  more  than  a  hundred  houses  with  shingle 
roofs,  and  over  five  hundred  acres  of  corn,  and  many  other  improvements  of  a 
valuable  character.  These  villages  and  Tippecanoe  towns  passed  from  notice 
until  1808,  when  Tecumseh  and  the  Prophet  took  up  their  residence  near  the 
old  town  of  Keth-tip-e-ca-nunk.  Their  machinations  filled  the  country  with  con 
tinual  alarm,  and  added  at  last  a  bloody  page  to  history  and  a  dark  tragedy  to 
Indian  prowess  and  defeat. 

All  the  efforts  on  the  part  of  Gov.  Harrison  to  bring  about  a  peaceful  solu 
tion  of  difficulties  with  Tecumseh  and  the  Prophet  having  failed,  and  the  con 
federacy  forming  by  Tecumseh  gaining  numbers  and  strength  every  day,  late  in 
the  month  of  October,  Harrison,  with  an  army  of  but  900  men,  set  out  from  Vin- 
cennes  for  the  Prophet's  town,  on  the  Wabash,  three  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the 
Tippecanoe.  The  army  was  made  up  of  250  regulars  of  the  4th  U.  S.  Infantry, 
and- a  troop  of  dragoons  from  the  same  State,  30  strong.  The  balance,  consisting 
of  Infantry,  mounted  riflemen  and  dragoons,  were  recruited  in  Indiana.  Nine- 
teen-twentieths  of  this  army  had  never  been  in  a  battle,  and  few,  comparatively, 
had  had  any  experience  in  Indian  warfare.  They  reached  the  battle-ground  late 
on  the  evening  of  November  6,  1811,  and"  fixed  their  camp  within  a  mile  of  the 
Prophet's  town.  They  built  their  fires  and  ate  their  supper.  Harrison  put  out 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  83 


his  sentinels,  130  strong,  nearly  one-sixth  of  the  army,  with  imperative  ciders,  if 
attacked,  to  hold  their  position  until  relieved. 

The  army  was  encamped  in  a  hollow  square,  with  the  left  flank,  owing  to  the 
nature  of  the  ground,  twice  the  length  of  the  right.  As  was  their  custom  through 
that  whole  campaign,  the  troops  slept  on  their  arms.  The  night  passed  unevent 
fully.  The  morning  was  very  near.  Harrison  and  his  aides  had  risen  and  were 
sitting  by  the  camp-fire — in  t^wo  minutes  the  orderly  drum  would  be  beaten  to 
call  the  men  to  arms.  At  this  moment  a  single  shot  is  fired  200  paces  from  the 
left  flank,  and  in  a  moment,  as  by  magic,  the  savage  war-whoop  broke  forth, 
guiding  the  entire  camp  as  if  every  savage  fiend  was  sounding  "the  battle  cry  of 
hell."  Every  sentinel  fled  without  firing.  Another  shot,  and  ere  the  soldiers 
had  risen  and  formed  in  line,  the  savages  were  upon  them.  Brave  Shawnees, 
courageous  Delawares,  dauntless  Kickapoos,  fierce  Winnebagoes,  treacherous 
Wyandots,  and  multitudinous  Potawattamies — a  dozen  different  tribes  were  cir 
cling  with  their  carnival  of  carnage  and  death  this  devoted  band — the  Salvation 
Army  of  the  Northwest.  For  more  than  two  mortal  hours  on  this  cold,  rainy, 
dark  November  morning  did  this  terrible  battle  rage,  when  "shout  and  groan 
and  battle  stroke  "  rang  out  on  the  unechoing  darkness  above  and  around  them. 
Only  two  voices  could,  throughout  the  terrible  struggle,  be  distinctly  heard — the 
stentorian  voice  of  the  Prophet  chanting  a  prophetic  war-song,  and  that  of  Gen. 
Harrison  cheering  his  men,  and  giving  his  commands  in  the  movements  of 
troops,  as,  again  and  again,  he  led  company  and  squadron  to  those  points  most 
hardly  pressed.  Oh!  for  night  or  Blucher,  was  the  almost  despairing  cry  of 
Wellington.  Oh!  for  daylight,  the  prayer  of  this  army  at  Tippecanoe.  Morn 
ing  and  victory  came  together,  came  joyously  to  the  heroes  whose  battle-front 
had  again  and  again  been  broken,  and  would  never  have  been  restored,  had  not 
the  brave,  the  dauntless  Harrison,  with  charmed  life,  been  there.  But  one  hun 
dred  brave  men  were  lying  dead,  dying  or  wounded,  on  the  bloody  field.  Time 
forbids  a  fuller  rehearsal,  more  than  to  say — here  mingled  the  blood  of  the  sol 
diers  of  the  regular  army,  gallant  volunteers  of  Kentucky,  and  the  militia  of 
Indiana.  Here  the  life  of  the  brave  Major  Bain,  of  the  Fourth  U.  S.  Infantry, 
went  out.  Here  the  gallant  Col.  Owen,  the  chivalric  Col.  Joseph  H.  Daviess, 
and  the  brave  Col.  White,  laid  down  their  noble  lives.  Here,  the  noble  Thomas 
Randolph,  of  Virginia,  sealed  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  that  country,  which 
his  native  State  had  sealed  to  the  general  government  twenty-seven  years  before. 
He  entered  the  army  from  the  ranks  of  a  civilian,  and  passed  to  immortality 
from  the  ranks  of  the  heroes  of  Tippecanoe.  Here  the  gallant  Capt.  Spiers 
Spencer — a  braver  than  whom  never  drew  a  sword,  fell ;  but  continued  cheering 
his  men  till  the  third  wound  chilled  his  soul  in  death.  With  him  fell  his  two 
lieutenants,  McMahan  and  Berry,  and  half  of  his  men,  leaving  only  his  orderly- 
sergeant,  the  brave,  the  gallant,  afterward  Gen.  John  H.  Tipton,  in  command. 
Those  red  devils,  the  Winnebagoes,  fought  on  the  right  flank.  Trained  like 


84  REPORT   OF   THE    COMMISSIONERS   OF   THE 


Sioux,  they  fired  from  flat  on  the  ground,  from  behind  trees  and  logs,  or  from  the 
overhanging  bows  of  the  trees,  and  every  flash  of  a  flint-lock  of  our  officers  and 
men  was  the  beacon  that  guided  a  ready  messenger  of  death  from  an  unerring 
Winnebago  rifle. 

Of  the  one  hundred — eighty-eight,  who  were  killed  or  wounded,  nearly  half 
of  the  casualties  occurred  on  this  eighty  yards  of  the  right  flank,  and  a  short 
space  of  the  rear  line  joining  at  this  angle.  Among  the  killed  were  Capt.  Jacob 
Warrick,  of  this  rear  line.  It  is  not  my  intention  to  write  up  the  battle  of  Tip- 
pecanoe,  but  to  call  attention  to  this  bloody  field,  the  historic  spot  of  Indiana  ; 
the  last  contest  where  the  savagery  of  the  confederated  Aborigines  met  the  ad 
vancing  civilization  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  ;  where  the  two  great  warriors  of  the 
Northwest  tried  the  arbitrament  of  the  sword.  It  is  true  Tecumseh  was  not 
there,  but  the  confederacy  was  his  creation,  and  the  battle  the  gathering  of  his 
claim ;  like  the  battle  of  Beal'an  Duine,  Roderick  Dhu's  army — but  not  Roderic 
was  there.  It  was  the  greatest  Indian  battle  of  the  century  in  its  results.  To  In 
diana  and  the  Northwest  it  was  everything ;  to  the  issue  of  the  war  with  Great 
Britain,  closely  following,  an  incalculable  factor.  The  sixty-one  lives  lost  in  the 
battle  and  victory  of  Tippecanoe,  without  doubt  arrested  a  carnival  of  Indian 
massacre  on  the  extended  Northwestern  border,  and  saved  hundreds  from  the 
ruthless  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife.  The  prowess  of  the  men  who  fought  in 
that  carnival  of  darknesss,  savage  horror  and  death,  is  a  peculiar  heritage  of 
Indianians.  The  hearts  of  thousands  swell  with  deep  emotion  as  they  tell  how 
our  fathers  and  kinsmen  fought  at  Tippecanoe.  The  cool  bravery,  the  tactical 
skill  and  the  fertile  resource  of  Harrison  in  that  terrible  ordeal  can  never  cease 
to  inspire  the  American  soldier.  First  in  the  saddle,  first  at  the  successive  points 
of  danger  and  need,  he  personally  led  every  company  and  squadron  to  new  posi 
tions,  giving  his  commands  in  clear,  full  tone,  with  all  the  coolness  and  self-pos 
session  of  dress-parade. 

In  boyhood,  I  heard  that  it  was  not  much  of  a  battle ;  and  if  it  was,  that 
Harrison  was  not  much  of  a  general — that  the  ground  was  ill-chosen,  and  ad  in- 
finitum.  The  latter  charge  Gen.  Phil.  Sheridan  has  given  an  eternal  quietus,  de 
claring,  from  a  personal  inspection  of  the  battle-ground  and  its  surroundings,  that 
it  was  admirably  chosen,  both  for  "  camping  and  fighting."  The  other  charges 
Indiana  answered  more  than  fifty  years  ago,  by  giving  Harrison  more  than  9,000 
majority  in  1836,  and  over  14,000  in  1840,  when  the  political  battle-cry  was  "Tip 
pecanoe  and  Tyler  too." 

The  results  of  the  battle  we  see  in  the  rapid  increase  of  population  and  com 
plete  organization  of  State  government  on  the  fifth  anniversary  of  the  battle  of 
Tippecanoe,  November  7,  1816. 

'  The  most  famous  of  all  the  places  of  Indiana  is  Vincennes.  For  nearly  one 
hundred  years  it  was  held  by  the  French  and  English,  with  fort  and  garrison. 
Afterward  it  was  captured,  February  24,  1779,  by  that  gallant  and  most  romantic 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  85 


soldier,  Gen.  George  Rogers  Clark.  In  1800  it  became  the  seat  of  government 
for  Indiana  territory,  and  for  thirteen  years  was  the  scene  of  many  gatherings  of 
white  and  Indian,  on  missions  of  war  and  peace.  To-day  it  is  a  quiet  city  of  ten 
thousand  inhabitants.  In  its  cathedrals  are  lodged  records  of  the  oldest  and  most 
valuable  history.  On  the  heights  beyond  the  city  is  the  bishop's  palace,  and 
above  the  city  two  miles  the  ruin  of  Fort  Knox.  Within  the  city  are  the  ruins 
of  Fort  Sackville,  the  residence  of  Gen.  Harrison,  and  the  famous  tree  under 
whose  shade  was  held  the  last  conference  of  Gen.  Harrison  with  the  Shawnee 
chief,  Tecumseh.  When  this  proud  hero  of  the  forest,  declining  a  proffered  chair 
indignantly  threw  himself  upon  the  ground,  declaring  "  the  earth  is  my  mother, 
I  will  rest  on  her  bosom."  This  was  the  last  meeting  between  Harrison  and  Te 
cumseh,  until  four  years  afterward  they  meet  on  the  bloody  battle-field  of,  the 
Thames,  when  the  plume  of  victory  waved  on  the  helmet  of  the  hero  of  Tippe- 
canoe,  but  the  shaft  of  the  rider  of  the  pale  horse  drank  the  lifeblood  of  the  last 
and  greatest  of  the  Shawnee  chiefs — the  shooting-star  —  Tecumseh.  What 
strange  parallels  history  traces !  These  two  notable  warriors,  of  nearly  the  same 
age,  first  met,  as  young  lieutenants,  in  the  battle  of  "  Fallen  Timbers,"  under  the 
guns  of  a  British  fort  where  British  treachery  shielded  and  abetted  the  cause  of 
the  Indians.  They  last  met  on  British  soil — the  one  a  major-general  of  the  army 
of  the  Northwest,  the  other  a  brigadier-general  in  the  British  service.  But  the 
proud  warrior  disdained  the  uniform  of  a  mercenary,  and  fought  and  died  clothed 
with  the  robes  and  plumes  of  a  Shawnee  chief. 

The  State  of  Indiana  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  an  east  and  west  line  drawn 
through  a  point  ten  miles  north  of  the  southern  extreme  of  Lake  Michigan ;  on 
the  east  by  the  meridian  line  drawn  from  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami,  being 
the  western  boundary  of  the  State  of  Ohio;  on  the  south  by  the  Ohio  River 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami  to  the  mouth  of  the  River  Wabash ;  on  the 
west  by  a  line  drawn  along  the  middle  of  the  River  Wabash  from  its  mouth  to  a 
point  where  a  due  north  line  drawn  through  the  town  of  Vincennes  would  last 
touch  the  shore  of  the  Wabash  River,  and  then  due  north  to  the  point  of  inter 
section  of  the  line  of  the  northern  boundary.  These  boundaries  include  an  area 
of  33,809  square  miles,  or  20,637,760  acres,  lying  between  the  37°  47'  and  41°  5c/ 
of  north  latitude,  and  between  7°  45'  and  1 1°  01'  of  longitude  west  from  Wash 
ington. 

To  the  one  who  gives  more  than  a  casual  glance  at  the  map  of  our  country, 
the  remarkable  position  of  our  State  in  reference  to  the  whole  country,  will  be 
forcibly  apparent.  The  chain  of  the  great  lakes  in  their  southern  trend  push 
hard  down  on  Indiana.  The  beautiful  river,  the  Ohio,  with  its  rock-ribbed  and 
hill-girt  table  lands,  press  far  northward  till  only  a  brief  two  hundred  miles  in 
tervene  between  the  lake  shore  and  the  hill  lines.  Standing  at  the  radial  point, 
or  place  of  convergence,  and  looking  eastward  to  Portland  and  all  down  the 
coast  to  Norfolk,  you  discover  that  every  railroad  line,  every  great  trunk  line  of 


86  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


inter-state  commerce  passing  westward  to  the  Mississippi  Valley,  to  the  corn  and 
wheat  fields  of  the  Nation,  converge  till  they  are  hemmed  between  Lake  Michi 
gan  and  the  Ohio  River,  and  cross  the  State  of  Indiana.  Turning  the  eye  west 
ward  to  the  Pacific  coast  and  sweeping  down  the  shore  from  Seattle  to  San  Diego, 
and  all  harbors  between,  you  will  find  that  every  invoice  of  merchandise  that 
leaves  these  ports  for  the  Eastern  seaboard  is  carried  on  converging  lines  which 
cross  the  State  of  Indiana.  The  only  exception  being  that  of  a  small  per  cent, 
going  by  the  way  of  Memphis  and  New  Orleans  to  far  Southern  ports.  But  as 
New  York  is  the  Liverpool  of  the  Western  world,  so  that  point  is  the  Eastern 
objective. 

As  an  evidence  of  this  great  necessity  of  nature  as  to  the  lines  of  transit,  we 
point  you  to-day  to  the  fifteen  great  trunk  railroads  that  cross  the  State  of  Indiana 
west  to  east.  Water  navigation  by  lake  and  river  and  railroad  line  transportation 
to  either  ocean,  east  or  west,  give  to  Indiana  perpetual  commercial  and  transit 
prominence.  The  center  of  population  of  the  Nation  has  touched  Indiana  and 
is  slowly  moving  Westward.  With  the  center  of  population  has  usually  gone 
the  center  of  political  power.  Whatever  doubt  may  hang  over  this  proposition 
is  certainly  removed  by  the  completion  of  the  paradox.  Indiana  is,  politically 
speaking,  a  doubtful  State.  The  commercial  importance  of  Indiana  is  augmented 
not  only  by  its  geographical  situation,  but  by  its  great  natural  resources.  Our 
beds  of  bituminous  and  block  coal  are  sufficient  to  supply  the  locomotives  and 
furnaces  of  the  country  for  an  indefinite  period.  Coal,  not  on  the  Pacific  or  At 
lantic  slope,  but  in  the  heart  of  the  country. 

Next,  perhaps,  in  importance  to  the  coal  of  our  State,  is  our  stone.  We 
have  as  fine  sandstone  as  any  State,  but  our  Oolitic  limestone  is  the  finest  build 
ing  material  on  the  continent.  There  is  no  limit  to  the  size  of  blocks  that  can 
be  quarried,  other  than  the  ability  to  handle  them.  Its  quality  of  endurance  is 
unsurpassed,  and  its  power  of  resistance  ranks  it  with  the  highest  quality  of 
granite.  I  have  seen  it  tested  where  a  small  cube  with  less  than  two  square 
inches  of  surface  crushed  only  after  the  application  of  96,000  pounds  of  pressure. 
This  was  from  a  quarry  near  Corydon,  but  Harrison,  Crawford  and  Perry  coun 
ties  abound  in  this  quality  of  limestone  that,  in  addition  to  its  other  qualities, 
takes  a  polish  equal  to  marble. 

It  was  the  quaint  remark  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  Bishop  Simpson,  after 
listening,  during  the  war,  to  his  great  lecture  on  Resources  of  America,  "  A  fine 
lecture,  Bishop,  a  fine  lecture;  but  you  did  not  strike  ile."  Coal-oil  was  just  then 
coming  into  use,  and  Lincoln's  quick  mind  had  grasped  its  growing  importance. 
The  Bishop  said  the  next  time  he  delivered  that  lecture  he  did  not  forget  to 
"  strike  ile." 

We  have  not  struck  oil  in  Indiana  to  any  exciting  extent,  but  the  gas  field 
of  Indiana  lengthens  and  widens  every  day,  and  no  one  knows  where  the  next 
great  "  gusher  "  may  be  struck. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  87 


Many  of  the  hills  of  Southern  Indiana  are  great  beds  of  red  ocher  of  the 
highest  commercial  purity,  and  others  are  ribbed  with  limestone,  and  bedded 
with  kaoline,  from  which  the  finest  porcelain  in  the  world  can  be  manufactured. 
But  the  recent  discoveries  in  the  evolution  of  aluminum  points  to  these  beds  as 
the  depositories,  not  of  porcelain,  but  of  a  metal  that  is  to  revolutionize  the  arts 
of  both  war  and  peace.  The  production  of  a  metal  that,  instead  of  costing 
$20,000  per  ton,  can  be  produced  at  the  cost  of  copper  and  an  alloy  of  which, 
added  to  steel  of  only  five  per  cent.,  will  give  it  tenfold  textile  strength,  and  in 
the  line  of  plating  supersedes  silver. 

The  agricultural  resources  of  Indiana  are  enormous.  The  wheat  crop  of 
1887  was  38,000,000  bushels — the  greatest  yield  of  any  State  in  the  Union.  Our 
corn  crops  are  enormous,  reaching  more  than  100,000,000  bushels  in  a  single 
year.  Oats,  flax  and  grains  of  every  variety  flourish  in  this  State. 

Indiana  has  always  been  loyal  to  the  Union.  She  has  never  set  up  her  State 
sovereignty  against  the  Federal  Union,  nor  claimed  for  the  dicta  of  her  courts 
higher  authority  than  those  of  the  nation.  Neither  has  she  ever  hesitated  to 
respond  to  the  call  of  her  country  for  soldiers,  nor  quibbled  about  the  authority 
of  the  Nation  to  command  them.  Neither  did  she  refuse  to  pay  into  the  treasury 
of  the  Nation,  the  direct  war  tax  of  1861.  She  challenges  the  world  to  find  a 
flaw  in  her  record  of  devotion  to  the  whole  country,  though  in  1863  and  1864 
plots  and  conspiracies  were  rife  within  her  borders,  and  Sons  of  Liberty  and 
Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle  were  plotting  treason  in  many  dark  corners.  The 
masses  of  our  people  were  loyal,  and  our  great  War  Governor,  Morton,  was  both 
the  Nestor  and  Achilles  of  the  time,  and  the  heart  throbs  and  pulse  beats  of  the 
State  kept  time  to  the  step  of  the  Union.  Indiana  has  no  State  flag.  She  has 
always  marched  and  fought  under  the  flag  of  the  Union.  The  stars  and  stripes 
that  keep  peace,  pace  and  place  with  the  eagle,  forms  our  ensign;  and  I  hope, 
and  fervently  pray,  that  in  the  centuries  to  come,  as  in  the  century  past,  she  may 
know  no  flag  but  the  standard  of  the  Nation,  and  no  Union  but  that  founded  in 
the  wisdom  of  our  fathers,  and  cemented  by  the  blood  of  our  patriot  dead. 

Indiana  boasts  no  coat-of-arms,  no  high  sounding  heraldry.  But  she  has  a 
motto,  not  graven  on  her  State  seal,  but  in  a  quaint  block,  high  up  in  the  Wash 
ington  Monument,  at  the  National  Capitol.  It  reads,  "  Indiana  knows  no  North, 
no  South,  no  East,  no  West — nothing  but  the  Union."  So  I  read  it  in  1860,  as 
the  block  lay  at  the  foot  of  the  unfinished  monument,  and  ere  it  was  lifted  to  its 
place  more  than  200,000  of  Indiana's  brave  boys  had  vindicated  on  a  hundred 
battle-fields,  the  earnest  truth  of  this  sentiment  of  her  people — her  loyal  State 
hood  in  the  Union.  » 

It  is  a  source  of  pride  to  the  Indianians  to  remember  the  loyal  attitude  of 
their  State  in  the  war  for  the  Union. 

Our  State  officers  were  loyal,  the  people  were  loyal,  and  on  every  battle-field 
her  soldiers  won  immortal  fame.  In  the  Mexican  war,  at  the  battle  of  Buena 


REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF     THE 


Vista,  by  a  blunder  in  command,  the  Second  Indiana  Regiment  was  stampeded, 
a  thing  not  unknown  in  battle,  even  to  veterans,  and  though  Albert  S.  Pike,  the 
gifted  poet  of  Arkansas,  in  his  beautiful  poem,  softened  in  a  measure,  the  serious 
impeachments  of  Indiana's  valor,  a  charge  laid  largely  at  the  door  of  Jefferson 
Davis,  the  commander  of  a  regiment  of  Mississippi  rifles,  in  that  noted  language  : 

"Ah !     Now  Third  Indiana,  you  have  nobly  wiped  away, 
The  disgrace  that  through  another  corps  befell  your  State  to-day, 
Like  corn  before  the  tempest  crushed,  before  your  storm  of  fire, 
Santa  Anna's  boasted  chivalry,  a  shattered  wreck  retire." 

Though  Indiana  had  given  five  regiments  to  the  Mexican  war,  many  of  whose 
gallant  braves  never  returned  home  to  greet  loved  ones,  or  to  receive  the  applause 
of  a  gratified  people,  still  this  villainous  charge,  this  stain  of  dishonor  rankled 
deep  in  the  hearts  of  our  people ;  and  as  the  Indiana  volunteers  went  out  from 
home,  with  the  farewells  was  often  mingled — "Remember  the  dishonor  of  In 
diana  by  Jefferson  Davis."  And  the  battle  shout  of  her  soldiers,  not  unlike  the 
Texas  cry,  at  San  Jacinto,  "Remember  the  Alamo,"  only  theirs  was  "Remember 
Buena  Vista."  To  illustrate  this  deep  spirit-felt  injury  and  insult,  I  may  give 
you  an  incident.  When  the  nth  Indiana  Regiment — Wallace's  Zouaves — were 
drawn  up  in  line  ready  to  start  to  West  Virginia,  their  commander,  Colonel,  af 
terwards,  General  Lew  Wallace,  a  soldier  of  the  Mexican  War,  commanded  them 
to  kneel,  and  with  uplifted  hands,  to  swear  loyalty  to  the  flag,  and  to  wipe  out 
the  disgrace,  the  slander  of  Buena  Vista.  I  need  not  tell  you  that  208,000  of  In 
diana  soldiers  in  almost  1,000  engagements,  demonstrated  their  loyalty  to  the  flag 
and  their  worthy  descent  from  the  heroes  of  Tippecanoe.  Time  forbids  elabora 
tion,  but  with  all  of  our  physical  resources  of  wealth,  all  of  those  other  emolu 
ments  and  achievements,  of  which  a  noble  people  may  be  justly  proud,  there  is 
nothing  so  dear  to  the  citizen  as  the  priceless  loyalty  of  the  State  to  the  Union, 
and  the  heroism  of  her  soldiers  and  their  devotion  to  the  flag.  And  while  the 
nation  is  giving  to  our  loyal  soldiers  pensions  which  can  never  be  too  lavish  or 
unworthily  bestowed,  if  the  recipient  wore  the  blue  and  marched  under  the  flag. 
Indiana  is  building  a  soldiers'  monument  at  the  State  capitol  to  perpetuate  in 
granite  the  great  lesson  ;  the  highest  glory  of  a  free  State  is  the  intelligence  and 
loyalty  of  its  citizen  soldiers,  and  the  greatest  assurance  of  the  prosperity  of  a 
State  is  its  devotion  to  and  grateful  remembrance  of  its  patriotic  defenders. 
$200,000  already  have  been  appropriated  to  this  great  work,  and  more  will  be 
added.  The  work  is  now  rapidlv  progressing. 

Indiana  has  always  been  blessed  with  great  men,  great  in  every  qualification 
of  citizenship  and  in  every  walk  of  life.  But  perhaps  in  fione  has  she  so  excelled 
as  in  the  splendid  representative  of  oratory.  Not  the  oratory  that  is  measured 
by  rule  and  dealt  out  by  the  square,  but  that  indescribable  eloquence  that  stirs 
men's  souls  and  moves  with  wild  emotion  their  hearts,  whether  they  beat  under 
broad-cloth  or  woolen  home-spun.  The  methods  of  political  canvassers — and  no- 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  89 


where  so  prevalent  and  general  as  in  Indiana,  not  like  the  speaking  from  the 
Bena  or  Forum  or  the  Hustings,  but  from  the  stump — and  an  Americanism  with 
a  political  interpretation,  called  out  an  army  of  eloquent  defenders  of  human 
rights,  and  expounders  of  political  principles.  Indiana  can  point  with  pride  to 
the  fame  of  her  Marshalls,  Harrisons,  Howards,  Dunns,  Hendricks,  Hannegans, 
Owens,  Mortons,  Lanes,  Thompsons,  and  Jennings,  which  cannot  perish  while 
the  historic  muse  continues  to  crown  the  heroes  whose  lips  dropped  words 
sweeter  than  the  honey  of  the  Attic  bee,  and  kindled  fire  fiercer  than  the  flaming 
thunderbolts  of  Olympian  Jove.  Her  statesmen  are  many,  tried  and  true.  Did 
we  have  to  rest  this  on  the  single  cast  of  a  die,  we  would  point  you  to  the  colossal 
Morton,  our  war  Governor,  whom  every  good  citizen  praises,  every  patriot  honors, 
and  every  Union  soldier  worships. 

Should  you  ask  me  if  any  of  Indiana's  citizens  had  essayed  the  heights  of 
Parnassus,  I  should  answer,  what  of  James  Whitcomb  Riley,  "when  the  frost  is 
on  the  pumpkin,"  and  the  boys  are  at  "the  Old  Swimmin*  Hole?"  Where  is 
Sarah  T.  Volton  when  you  "paddle  your  own  canoe?" 

In  authorship  who  surpasses  Gen.  Lew. Wallace,  as  you  study  the  "Fair  God," 
and  sit  spell-bound  as  the  noble,  beautiful,  wonderful  and  grand  character  of 
"Ben  Hur"  passes  before  you.  He  told  me,  and  I  will  just  mention  it  con 
fidentially,  at  Chicago  the  other  day,  that  there  was  another  Ben  on  his  mind 
that  just  then  was  more  deeply  engaging  it  than  "Ben  Hur."  That  other  Ben 
was  and  is  Gen.  Ben  Harrison.  If  you  read  "The  Hoosier  School  Master,"  pray 
do  not  forget  that  Edward  Eggleston  is  an  Indianian,  and  the  son  and  step-son 
of  a  "circuit  rider." 

But  I  cannot  take  the  time  to  mention  a  tithe  of  the  noted  names  of  In- 
dianians.  The  bar,  the  press,  the  pulpit,  the  rostrum  and  the  school-room  have 
all  their  worthies — names  cherished  by  our  people;  names  "not  born  to  die." 
But  I  may  be  permitted  to  say  that  two  names  are  especially  treasured  in  the 
memory  of  our  people — the  names  of  Harrison  and  Morton  :  The  one,  the  first 
territorial  governor,  and  the  savior  of  the  pioneers  of  the  territory  by  the  victory 
of  Tippecanoe,  and  the  other,  our  war  Governor,  equal  to  every  emergency,  a 
trip-hammer  in  debate,  a  giant  when  he  had  treason  by  the  throat — names  that 
open  and  almost  close  our  history,  and  by  a  marvelous  coincidence,  the  echoes  of 
these  names  are  not  likely  to  die  this  year.  They  are  now  echoing  along  the 
valley,  and  seem  to  gather  new  force  by  every  reverberation,  for  another  Harrison 
and  another  Morton  have  become  a  political  rallying  shout. 

Of  nothing  in  our  State  are  we  more  proud  than  our  schools.  Education, 
intelligence  and  morality  are  fostered  in  our  Constitution  of  1816,  in  our  statutes 
ever  since  in  force,  and  in  our  Constitution  of  1851.  Our  State  has  always  been 
liberal  according  to  its  ability,  in  the  interests  of  education.  Our  county  semi 
naries  under  the  old  Constitution,  were  educational  centers.  Our  old  State  bank 
had  its  entire  profits  dedicated  to  educational  purposes,  and  after  its  twenty  years 
of  chartered  existence  through  the  sinking  fund  system,  turned  over  as  its  net 
profits  and  surplus  to  the  permanent  school  fund,  nearly  four  millions  of  dollars. 


9O  REPORT   OF   THE   COMMISSIONERS   OF    THE 


The  dedication  of  the  sixteenth  section  of  each  township,  by  the  ordinance  of 
1 787*  gave  a  large  sum  to  the  educational  fund,  and  the  wise  provision  of  our 
laws  in  turning  over  all  fines,  unclaimed  fees,  and  escheated  estates  to  the  per 
manent  school  fund,  has,  year  by  year,  added  not  a  little  to  the  same  fund.  But, 
without  elaboration  or  detailed  specification,  a  brief  tabular  statement  will  be 
undoubtedly  a  source  of  satisfaction.  The  invested  school  fund  of  Indiana,  by 
report,  1887,  was  $9,517,887.83.  Of  this  immense  sum,  over  five-ninths  is  loaned 
at  eight  per  cent,  per  annum,  the  balance  due  from  the  State  at  six  per  cent,  in 
terest,  in  both  cases  paid  semi-annually.  Every  dollar  of  this  interest  is  dedicated 
to  teaching,  not  a  farthing  to  any  other  purpose. 

The  value  of  school  property  is  $16,214,821.85.  There  is  paid  out  annually 
for  teaching  alone,  $3,460.613.01 ;  for  building  school-houses,  repairs,  apparatus,, 
etc.  (not  including  entirely  the  bonded  debts  created  by  city  and  incorporated 
towns  for  school  purposes),  $1,768,114.36.  This  tuition  fund  annually  expended, 
of  three  and  a  half  millions  ($3,500,000),  is  raised  by  a  State  levy  of  sixteen  cents 
on  each  one  hundred  dollars  of  property,  to  which  may  be  added  a  local  levy 
not  exceeding  twenty-five  cents  on  the  one  hundred  dollars,  and  a  poll  of  twenty- 
five  cents,  together  with  one-third  of  a  million  of  dollars  from  the  liquor  license 
of  the  State.  The  balance  is  derived  from  the  interest  on  the  invested  school 
fund,  amounting  to  $657,360.29.  Our  general  State  levy  for  tuition  alone,  is  six 
teen  cents,  while  our  levy  for  all  other  state  purposes,  executive,  legislative  and 
judicial,  including  all  our  benevolent,  reformatory  and  penal  institutions,  is  only 
twelve  cents;  and  yet  this  sixteen  cents  yields  less  than  one-third  of  our  school 
expenditures. 

This  is  the  financial  side  of  our  schools.  What  of  the  army  of  teachers  and 
scholars?  In  1887  there  were  7,409  male  teachers  employed;  6,914  females; 
total,  14,323.  The  same  year  there  were  enumerated  between  the  ages  of  six 
and  twenty-one  years,  760,529.  Of  these,  there  were  enrolled  in  the  schools  66 
per  cent.,  or  508,875.  This  is  the  common  school  record  in  brief  of  the  smallest 
in  area  of  the  five  sisters  of  the  Northwest  Territory.  May  we  not,  with  hoosier 
pride,  speak  well  of  a  State,  which,  with  only  34,000  square  miles  of  territory, 
has  $10,000,000  of  invested  school  fund,  $16,000,000  of  school  property,  being 
$500  for  every  square  mile ;  add  to  each  square  mile  its  $300  of  invested  school 
fund,  and  it  is  $800  to  the  square  mile. 

How  wisely  our  fathers  builded — how  closely  their  sons  have  followed  in 
their  footsteps.  Fifty  years  ago  the  war-whoop  of  the  savages  was  sounding 
along  our  valleys — to-day  a  thousand  million  of  taxable  wealth  and  all  those 
mighty,  wonderful  muniments  of  civilization,  which  are  the  prophecy  of  untold 
wealth  and  prosperity.  Twenty-eight  years  hence — 1916 — the  r.entennial  of  her 
statehood  will  occur.  The  astronomer  can  tell  us  in  advance  the  position  of  the 
stars  for  that  year;  forecast  the  eclipse,  transits  and  conjunctions. 

But  what  philosopher  or  astronomer  can  cast  the  horoscope  for  that  hour  of 
her  accomplished  destiny ;  but  Indiana's  educational  story  is  not  told  in  the  re- 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  9 1 


cital  of  her  free  schools.     The  footsteps  of  the  savage  had  not  been  obliterated 
in  our  forests  before  the  people  were  engaged  in  building  colleges.     The  State/ 
had  not  been  admitted  into  the  Union  two  decades  until  three  of  the  most  influ-i\ 

V  ^ 

ential  of  our  colleges  were  inviting  students  to  their  halls.     We  have  but  to  nameV   *-•+ 
the   State  University,   Indiana   Asbury  University    (now  Depaw),    and   Wabash    ':.  s. 


J 

"•' 


Colleges.  Indiana  has  more  colleges,  universities,  normal  schools  and  academies 
than  any  other  State  in  the  Union.  There  are  over  twenty  of  these  institutions, 
with  an  attendance,  the  past  scholastic  year,  of  over  8,000  students;  their  endow 
ments,  buildings,  grounds  and  improvements  are  estimated  at  $7,000,000.  All  of 
these  colleges  but  one  have  become  advocates  of  the  co-education  of  the  sexes* 
and  however  slowly  some  of  us  have  come  into  this  way  of  things,  there  are  none 
of  us  who  would  recommend  a  backward  step. 

Coeval  with  the  development  of  our  educational  system  was  that  other  sister, 
the  handmaid  of  prosperity  —  internal  improvements  —  fostered.  Before  the  State 
was  twenty  years  in  the  Union,  a  gigantic  scheme  of  highways,  railroads  and 
canals  was  devised.  The  founders  of  this  scheme  had  sprung  from  noble  sires 
and  heroic  dames,  and  were  themselves  full  of  lofty  prowess  and  enterprise.  They 
had  the  courage  of  their  opinions  and  the  spirit  of  the  "  Do  and  Dare"  That 
their  scheme  failed  and  wrought  ruin  for  the  time,  was  not  because  it  was  the 
dream  of  a  visionary,  or  a  chimera  of  the  brain  ;  nay,  verily,  but  because  Na 
tional  bankruptcy  had  come  on  the  people.  We  had  no  currency  that  could 
stand  the  spear-touch  of  the  Ithuriel  of  financial  stress  ;  no  party  at  the  head  of 
National  affairs,  wise  to  create  and  firm  to  administer  a  system  of  banking  and 
currency,  stable  in  prosperity  and  elastic  in  adversity  ;  no  chiefs  of  the  exchequer 
like  Hamilton,  Chase,  Fessenden  and  Sherman,  to  pilot  the  ship  in  storms  with 
a  clear  brain  and  iron  nerve,  little  heeding  the  stampede  of  the  crew  and  the 
despairing  cry  of  the  passengers  ! 

To-day,  Indiana  has  all  the  dreams  of  1836  and  a  hundredfold  more  real 
ized;  and  though  her  first  scheme  of  internal  improvements  failed,  and  the 
millions  on  millions  of  debts  were  piled  up,  to-day  she  is  girded  and  belted  with 
railroads,  and  all  her  debts  contracted  then  and  during  the  war  of  the  rebellion 
are  paid.  With  an  unfinished  and  imperfect  recital,  we  close  this  representation 
of  the  State  of  Indiana. 

The  work  of  the  century  is  done.  Its  record  is  made.  Through  all  the 
coming  times  it  will  constitute  a  marvelous  epoch  —  the  Romance  of  History. 

Turning  reverently  from  the  contemplation  of  the  great  work  of  the  Fathers, 
let  us  devoutly  lift  our  eyes  and  hearts  as  we  read  in  letters  of  light,  "  Behold  ! 
what  God  has  wrought." 

Then,  turning  again  to  State-founding  and  Empire-building,  let  us  not  forget 
that  we  are  so  hedged  about  by  Divine  Providence,  that  — 

Our  lightest  footfall  is.  heard  on  the  outer  bounds  of  space, 
And  our  softest  whisper  echoes  from  the  throne  of  the  Eternal. 


92  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

AFTERNOON  SESSION— Monday  July  16, 1888,  1:30  P.  M. 

Hon.  John  Strecker,  presiding. 

Hon.  John  Strecker,  in  introducing  Hon.  Charles  Reeme- 
lin,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  said : 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  As  the  German  population  of 
this  Northwest  Territory  have  greatly  assisted  in  the  develop 
ment  and  progress  during  this  century,  it  was  resolved  to  have 
a  German  speech  by  the  well-known  and  Honorable  Charles 
Reemelin,  whom  I  now  present  to  you. 

[An  English  translation  of  this  address  will  be  found  fol 
lowing  the  German.] 

2ln[pradje  bes  2ldjtb,  Cfyas.  Heemelin  r>on  (Cincinnati 


©  e  e  h,  r  t  e  SJerfammlung!  3)ie  giitige  (£  inlabung  2$re«3  2lnorbnungQ- 
Committees,  eine  3tebe  311  fyalten  mtt  befonberer  23e$ieEjung  auf  bie  beutfd)en 
^ioniere  unb  ben  Xfjetl,  roelrfjen  2)eutfd)geborene  unb  Ujre  'Jiac^fommen  an  ber 
2lnfteblung  unb  ©ntroicflung  ber  6taaten  fatten,  roelc^e  aug  bem  norbroeftltd^en 
©ebiet  gebiibet  raurben,  roar  mtr  lieb  unb  roert^ ;  benn  fte  ift  eine  e^ren^afte  ^.vc- 
erfennung,  ba^  nirfjt  bios  in  (Snglanb  ©eborene  unb  tb,re  9ia^Iommen  bie  $afto= 
ren  ^ieftger  ©efc^ic^te  finb,  fonbern  bafe  auc^  3)eutfc^e  unb  beren  9lac^Iommen 
babet  mitroirften.  33)  wfenne  ba§  3e^9em°Be  unb  bie  2Bid)tigleit  einer  folc^en 
Sefpred^ung  an,  furcate  aber,  bag  bie  Slufgabe  fc^tcer  §u  erfuQen  fein  rcirb,  o^ne 
babet,  felbft  bet  ber  gerotfjen^afteften  S3e^anblung  bed  ^^emaS,  bei  genrifjen  em« 
pfinblid^en  £euten  anjuftojjen,  tceld^e  in  jold^en  ©rbrterungen  eine  $erlefeung  beS 
ben  ©tn^eimijc^en  gebiiljrenben  SSorred^tg  erbltcfen  roerben.  %$  ^ielt  es 
fur  geboten,  gleid^  in  meinem  3lnna^mefd^retben  btefe  23eben!en 
unb  §u  oerfic^ern,  baft  id)  mem  9Roglid)fte§  t^un  roerbe,  urn  btefe 
ju  Dermetben.  %$  erneuere  nun  biefe  95erft$erung  aud^  oor  3^nen  unb  bitte  um 
freunbltc^e  Dtac^ft^t  fiir  aQenfaUftge  UitnoQft&nbigfeiten  in  meinem  ^ortrag.  2)a3 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  93 


mir  unterbreitete  Sterna  fc^reibt  bie  EarfteUung  eineS  befttmmten  £f)eil3  bet 
Oeute  gefeierten  @pocf)e  oor.  ®3  roirb  jebod),  meinc  i$,  nirf)t3  fd)aben,  roenn 
einige  berfelben  oorangegangene  3)ata  corauS  befpro^en  roerben,  unb  @ie  fo  auf 
bic  <5ad)Iage  ber  Qeit,  bie  roir  feftlid)  begefyen,  oorbereitet  roerben.  2)cr  ftern  ber« 
felben  ift,  baft  bamalS  ber  SRorbroeften  ber  freien  ©inroanberung  erbffnet  rourbe 
unb  nid)t  nur  ben  2lnfieblern  au3  bem  £anbe  felbft,  fonbern  au$  au3  ben  oerf$ie* 
benen  <5taaten  ©uropaS. 

^Sutnam  unb  fetne  oierjtg  ©efa^rten,  roelc^e  ^ier  lanbeten,  roaren  (Sinroanbe* 
rer  fo  gut  al3  bie  ^erren^uter,  roelc^e  roetter  oben  in  D^io  ©nabenfjiitten  angelegt 
fatten,  llnb  lange  Qeit  naa^er  roaren  es  roieber  bie  oerfd)iebenen  ©inroanberer, 
roeld^e  bie  Surbe  unb  Saft  ber  2lnfieblung  ju  tragen  fatten,  infofern  bie  SBer. 
6taatem£ruppen  nic^t  bie  i8erti)eibigung  beforgten.  63  lag  aud)  im  S^arafter 
otter  btefer  (Sinroanberer  bamal^,  rcie  lange  $d*  nad^^er,  bafe  fie  ftdj  gegenfeitig 
Sei^ulfe  leifteten  unb  ergtinjten,  unb  Slfle  fiir  2lIIe  einftanben ;  benn  nur  fo  fonn* 
ten  fte  i^rer  (Sjiftenj  eine  geroiffe  ©ic^er^eit  oerlei^en.  S)ie  auf  iljre  ^tefige  @e* 
burt  fo  ftoljen  ^nbianer  galten  i^nen  fiir  fo  entfdn'ebene  geinbe,  ba|  e§  bei  t^nen 
felbft  jeben  2lnfprucf>  auf  Seoorjugung  fiir  ftc^,  auf  ©rtinbe  ^iefiger  ©eburt,  au§» 
fd)loft.  @te  fragten  nur  barnac^,  ob  ber  bejitglidje  SlnfteDler  auc^  e^rlid^  unb  treu 
fei  feinen  ©efa^rten.  @3  bleibt  eben  immer  ein  nod)  ju  lofenber  2Siberfpruc^, 
rote  bennod)  nattoiftifd^e  SSorurt^eile  nad^^er  entftefjen  lonnten. 

2)ie  2lnfteblung  be§  2Beften3  oon  9^orb*2lmeri!a  roar  im  ad&tjefjnten  ^a^r* 
^unbert,  beina^e  fiinfjig  ^a^e  long,  ein  ©egenftanb  beg  §aber8  jroifc^en  oerfd^ie* 
benen  barauf  2lnfprud)  mac^enben ;  eS  !onnte  fid)  alfo  roa^renb  ber  3^it  fein 
SSoH  auSbilben.  Dfftjiea  roar  $ranfreirf)§  Sefi^  oor  1763  nic^t  beanftanbet, 
aber  (SnglanbS  Solonial  -•  33eamte  unterftii^ten,  unter  ber  ^anb,  bie  (Singriffe 
con  Seroo^nern  ber  bftlic&en  ©olonien  in  bie  firc^Iic^en,  politifdjen  unb  fcctalen 
3flegulationen  granfreid^S.  3)ie  franjofifc^en  S3efe^I^f)aber  a^nbeten  bieg,  inbem 
fie  ben  $a|i  ber  3>nbianer  gegen  englifd^e  92iebetlaffungen  anfad^ten.  @3  rourbe 
beanfpruc^t,  bafe  ba§  ^nnm  oon  ^or^)s2lmert!a  ben  oftlid^  baoon,  imSanbe  felbft, 
SCBo^nenben  ge^ore,  unb  nid)t  ben  fran^bfifcben  x'lusliinbern.  Dian  mufe  ba  aber 
bod^  fragen,  ob  benn  nic^t  auc^  bie  @nglanber  2lu8lanber  roaren  ?  2)ie  2llbant; 
Sonoention  (1759)  ^atte  neben  einem  ttniomSpIan  fur  bie  oftltd)en  Solonien,  auc^ 
etnen  Sanb^Ian  »or  ftd^,  in  roel^em  iiber  bie  Sanbereien  im  ^Rorbroeften  oerfiigt 
rourbe,  con  roel^en  ^ranfreic^  boc^  notorifd)  93eft^  ^atte.  ®g  gait  eben  ber 
2Beften  fiir  ben  SHOnbel  beg  Dfteng,  fur  ben  man  ©efefce  ad  libitum  erlaffen 
!6nne.  3)ie  ^B^rafe  "Westward  the  star  of  Empire  takes  its  way"  fprad!) 
baffelbe  aus  unb  roar  bad  SRotiu  oieler  2JZa|;regeIn.  3)er  SDeften  ift  aber  nad^« 
gerabe  fiir  2ttaf}regelungen  btefer  2lrt  ein  SiSdjen  ju  grofe  geroorben  unb  roirb 
me^r  unb  me^r  geneigt,  ben  ©tiel  umjubre^en  unb  etnen  oiel  alteren  2lnfpruc^ 
aufjufrtfd^en,  namlid&  ben:  baft  bem  33innenlanbe  bie  flflftenlcinber  ge^bren ; 
benn  9liemanb  biirfe  t^m  ben  3Beg  jur  2BeIt  abfc^lie^en.  3lud^  bie  ^olitil  Ijat 
i^re  SGBetterfa^nen,  bie  ftc^  brefjen,  roie  ber  SCinb  roe^t.  (Sine  @pifobe  jener  3eit 


94  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


barf  b,ier  roob,!  aucfc,  erroa^nt  roerben.  (5g  bilbete  fid)  namlidj  fcb,on  1749  eine 
Df)io  Sanbs&ompagnie,  roeld)e  aug  Sonboner  $aufleuten  unb  SBirginier  Spflanjern, 
untcr  ib,nen  SBaf^ington'g  Sruber,  beftanb.  2)er  bamalige  ©ouoerneur  con 
Sttrginien  ftattete  ©eorge  Sitafbjngton  mit  einem  Dffijier'g  *  patent  aug,  bag 
ib,m  3utritt  ju  ben  frans6fifcf)en  Dffaieren  (ben  berub,mten  ©aflifonniere  unb 
Segarbeur  be  @t.  ^ierre)  gab.  S3ei  f einem  93efud)e  iiberrafcfjten  biefe  ifyn,  inbem 
fte  ib,m  erflarten,  ba§  aUeg  #anb,  roeftltc^  oon-  ber  2Saf|erfc^eibe  ber  iiiaeg^en^ 
©ebirge,  ^ranfreic^  ge^ore,  unb  ba&  jeber  Serfuc^,  barin  Golonien  anjulegen, 
al§  feinblid^er  2lft  gea^nbet  roerben  roiirbe.  SBa^ington,  ber  bie  $ranjofen  als 
@inbringlinge  betrac^tete,  (jatte  jc^on  bei  ^arfersburg  3,000  Slcler  ^anb  unter 
ben  ©efe^en  SStrgintens  fief)  sujc^reiben  laflen.  @g  finb  bies  bie  ^dnbereien, 
n)eld>e  Ijeute  nod^  "Washington  Bottoms"  genannt  roerben.  3$  roar  1845 
Xruftee  beutfrfjer  Grben  fiir  baran  angrenjenbe  Sa'nbereien  unb  erfufir  bie  ft'unbe 
Don  bortigen  ^ad^barsleuten. 

25urt^  ben  ftrieben  oon  gJarid  (1763),  am  @nbe  beg  ftebenja^rigen  ^rieges, 
entfagte  ^anfreicf)  feinem  3lnfprud^  auf  Sanaba,  $u  bem  aud^  unfer  ^orbroeften 
bamals  ge^orte,  $u  ©unften  (Snglanb^.  !yn  bemfelben  ©d^riftftiitfe  rourben  ba= 
mate  audi  beutfa^e  ©treitfragen  mit  englifdjen,  franjofifc^en  unb  amerifanifd^en 
entft^ieben,  in  ber  (Srroartitng,  bafe  ^riebe  nun  aHerroa'rtS  eintrete.  25ag  roar 
aber  b,ter  ntd^t  ber  ^aU,  benn  Die  !3nt>ianer  unb  bie  ©olonien,  mit  ib,ren  Sinter^ 
rofilblern,  janften  fid)  untereinanber  unb  mit  Snglanb,  big  (1783)  beim  $riebens- 
fdglufe  am  @nbe  bes  b,iefigen  Jtriege^  fiir  IXnabfjangigfeit,  ©nglant)  feine  Dber* 
f)errjct}aft  aufgab. 

2Sab,renb  ber  ganjen  3eit,  1735-1783,  roar  im  9^orbroeften  nur  eine  fleine 
ainjab,!  3Kenfc^en,  unb  jroar  bie  ilKa^rif^en  Sriiber,  aucb,  ^errenb,uter  genannt, 
roelc^e  bie  2lnfieblung  beg  SBefteng  otjne  grofje  ©elbftfuc&t  betrieben.  @ie  finb 
eigentlid?  bie  poniere  ber  beutfc^en  einroanberung.  2)iefe  fanbten  1758  ^riebs 
ric^  $oft  §ur  2Kiffion  nac^  Db,io.  ®r  ftammte  aug  2)eutfc^lanb,  roar  Sperrentyuter 
unb  fam  alg  folder  narfj  ^^ilabelpb^ia,  oon  roo  aug  er  ju  ben  ^nbianern  beg 
9Befteng  gefanbt  rourbe,  urn  bie  3>nManer  unb  aud^  bie  2lbfommlinge  oon  @uro* 
poem,  foroob,!  bie  con  ftranjofen  alg  aud^  bie  oon  ©nglanbern,  oon  ib,ren 
feligfeiten  ju  befeb,ren.  (Sr  b,ielt  eine  sJtebe,  bei  ber  oon  ib,m  anberaumten 
fammenfunft,  an  afle  93etb,etligten.  @te  roar  ein  2Weifterfturf  oon  einer 
fiir  bie  2Renfdjenliebe.  2lber  er  prebigte  tauben  Dfjren;  benn  feine  3ub,orer 
roaren  oon  9Sorurtb,eilen  befeffen,  roelcb,e  ib,re  Sefe^rung  f)inberten. 

Sitte,  faffen  @ie  bie  53ermittler--3floae  biefeg  beutfc^en  2Wiffionarg  fcft  in'g 
2luge,  benn  fie  ift  ber  ©c^liiffel  sum  Serfta'nbnijj  ber  beften  Sienfte,  roelcb^e  bag 
beutfc^e  2Sefen  ^ier  geleiftet  b,at.  2)ie  ^erren^uter  toaren  ein  fitter  ^Jroteft  milb* 
frommer  G^riften  gegen  bag  roilb^fromme  ©etriebe  b,iefiger  9teligiong:@iferer. 
Stud?  Sut^er'g  6b,ara!ter  roar  ein  folder  ^Sroteft  flegen  ©aloin  unb  flnor..  2)a 
bie  ^errenb,uter  con  Seutjc^Ianb  famen,  beffen  6taaten  leine  (Solonial^ntereffen 
^ier  fatten,  alfo  fief)  mit  SRiemanbeg  ^ntereffen  ber  2lrt  b,ier  freujten,  fo  fatten 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  95 


fte  ben  freien  93Iicf,  bie  SMnge  im  redjten  £id)t  ju  betracf)ien  unb  unparteiifd)en 
3Rat!)  ju  ertfyeilen,  TOO  anbere  ben  $aber  beftdrften ;  barin  lag  bamalg,  roie  nod) 
l)eute,  bie  befjere  ©ntroicflung  Slmerilag. 

97un  aber  biirfen  roir  ja  nid)t  oergeffen,  ber  fciilfe  311  errodl)nen,  roelcfje  bie 
granjofen  ber  jungen  9tepublif  im  Sefreiungsfampfe,  1776-83,  geleiftet  §aben. 
2)eren  23eiftanb  lam  gerabe  jur  rerf)ten  $eit,  um  ben  ©ieg  ber  guten  ©arfje 
ber  ftrei^eit  jujuroenben.  2lucf)  ba  fam  bag  iQeil  Slmerifag  burrf>  ben  3ufam* 
menfluf!  con  nerfdjiebenen  $rdften,  roooon  ©uropder  i^r  guteS  Xfjeil  beitrugen. 

aiUe  fc^on  errod^nt,  irat  1783  ©nglanb  feine  ©uprematie  ab.  2lber,  an 
roen  ?  roar  nun  bie  $rage.  2)ie  ^nbtaner  oerneinten  naliirliii  alle  unb  jegltcfje 
Seanfptud^ung  oon  ©tgent^umgrec^ten,  roeld&e  fie  nid^t  corner  gene^migt  fatten, 
unb  bie  ©taaten  fteiften  fid)  jefct  erft  rec^t  auf  i^r  ojilid^eS  SSorred^t  iiber  bie 
n>eftUd)en  ^dnbereien.  ©ie  gebraud^ten  bie  Sdnbereien  entroeber  urn  ©elb  ju 
borgen,  ober  fiir  ©taatSeinfommen.  Sa  traten  3Jiart>lanb  unb  anbere  atlan= 
tifc^e  ©taaten,  bie,  roeil  fie  nid)t  an  ben  SBeften  birelt  grenjten,  leinen  S^eil 
an  ber  33ertf)eUung  bes  ailcftend  tjaben  follten,  mit  bem  23erlangen  auf,  baft 
ber  SunbeSregierung,  bie  bamal^  unter  ben  (5onfoberations=2lrtifeln  organifirt 
roar,  bie  offentlidjen  Sdnbereien  fiir  aUgemeine  ^u^niefiung  jugeroiefen  roerben 
fottten,  bie  fc^on  eingeiretene  SSerfiigung  ber  ©taaten  iiber  bie  2dnbereien  in 
^entutlg,  D^io,  u.  f.  ro.  follte  au^genommen  fein.  Xiefem  SSerlangen  gab  bie 
33unbess$Regierung  burb^  entjpred^enbe  Sefd^liiffe  sJiac^brucf,  unb  fo  gaben  bie 
©taaten  unter  biejen  JHeferoationen  itire  Slnfpritc^e  auf,  unb  bie  2lnfteblung  bes 
SCeftenS  rourbe  ©egenftanb  nationaler  ^Jolittf  mit  erroeiterten  unb  erroeiternben 
©eftd^tslreifen  unb  aucf)  benfelben  entfpred^enben  9led5ten  unb  $flid)ten. 

3n)ifcgen  1783-87  beftanb  aber  eine  fdjroad&e  SunbeS^egierung,  neben  feljr 
faumfeligen  ©taaten  in  ber  ©rfuUung  i^rer  ^flid^ten.  6^  beftanb  eine  boben* 
lofe  SSerroirrung  in  alien  finanjieflen  S3e3ie^ungen,  benn  bie  offentlicfyen  Sdnbe> 
reien  roaren  »on  ben  ©taaten  fiir  i^ren  5i9fu3  fo  falfd)  oerroenbet  roorben,  bafe 
fte  aI3  ^inanjbafiS  nic^t  me^r  bienen  fonnten.  2lud)  fe^Ite  jebroebe^  ridjttge 
unb  juoerldfftge  ©teuerroefen.  Unb  SBaf^ington,  ^ranliin  unb  2Jiabifon  fa^en 
ein,  bafe  eine  ftdrfere  unb  energifc&ere  Stegierung  not^ig  fei.  Unter  ifyrem  3flat^e 
rourben  nun  bie  brei  befannten  2HaferegeIn,  roelc^e  bas  $a()r  1787  oer^errlic^en, 
eingeleitet  unb  burdjgefefct ;  ndmlid^  bie  neue  Serfaffung,  bie  Drbinanj  »on  1787 
ffir  bag  norbroeftlid9e  ©ebiet,  unb  bie  Sanbafte. 

^ur  ung  gibt  eg  aber  eine  oierte;  ndmlib^  bie  2lbfdjaffung  ber  ©olonial* 
^Solitif  unb  bag  ©intreten  ber  ©inroanberung  mit  td'glid)  freier  roerbenber  9tid9* 
tung.  ©ie  rourbe  bie  conftituirenbe  sU?a$t  unb  fefcte  bie  anbern  in  erf)5f)te 
na^lid^e  Xptigfeit.  ©ie  oerroirflidjte  fiir  ^orb=2lmerifa  ©bt^e'g  ©prud? :  H<£ab 
roir  ung  barauf  ergeljen,  barum  ift  bie  Selt  fo  grojj."  3^un  erft,  roeil  baburd) 
eine  erroeiterte  amerifanifdge  SSolfsbilbung  eingeleitet  unb  oerftdrft  rourbe,  tra« 
ten  bie  S3er.  ©taaten  oollig  ebenburtig  in  ben  Kreig  ber  ^ationemSMt  ein, 
unb  rourben  fo  ooOenbg  frei  oon  ©nglanb  unb  atten  feinen  ^Srdtenfionen 


96  REPORT    OF   THE   COMMISSIONERS   OF    THE 


2)ie  neue  SBelt  rourbe  jefet  crft  jur  2BeIt ;  benn  fie  na&m  cine  SBelt  in  ft$ 
auf.  Unb  ,,3Belt  fein"  ift  eines  grofcen  iHeidjeg  befteg  3iel,  raenn  feme  3taats= 
manner  2UeIt  in  fid)  fyaben.  line  frfjeint  ein  rtc^ttger  (Srunbfafc  in  ber  ^elire 
ju  liegen:  ba£  bns  freie  forperlic^e  SUanbern  ebenfo  notljroenbig  fiir  bte  Gtoili* 
fation  ber  Sffielt  ift,  aid  bag  freie  SSerbreiten  oon  ^nteUtgena,  Xugenb  unb  2Beig* 
$eit. 

llnb  Ijier  roirb  eg  notfjroenbig,  bafc  roir  ben  llnterfd^ieb  jioifc^en  frii^erer 
©olontjation  unb  ber  oon  1787  an  etngetretenen  freien  ©tnroanberung  fur?  erflti* 
ren.  3i)ir  tfjun  eg  nacf)  ber  Sluffaffung  £.  »on  ©tctnd.  37ac^  i^m  finb  betbe 
2lusgteic^ungsprojeffe  in  ber  33eoolferung  ber  @rbe. 

2)ie  (Eolonifation  oolljte^t  btefeg  nac^  ber  Sltc^tfa^nur  oon  bgnaftijdjen, 
firc^lic^en  ober  fonft  ©rroeiterung  ifyrer  ^errfc^aft  anftrebenben  Dbrigfeiten. 
3)er  Solonift  bletbt  llntert^an  unb  ift  SDRittel  jum  $me&.  33ei  ber  freien  2lu§* 
unb  ©tnroanberung  bagegen  fommt  bie  freie  ^nbioibualita't  jur  ooUen  grei^eit ; 
benn  ber  freie  28anberer  rotU  foetal  b/o^er  fteb,en  unb  fd^neibet  ficb,  ab  com  frii* 
^eren  2Cob,nort  unb  aUen  politifrf)en  «anben  unb  Dbliegenb,eiten,  roeldje  i^n 
corner  baran  banben.  @r  fe^t  fief)  felbft  ein  unb  iiberntmmt  perjouUc^  bag 
SHififo  feiner  3ufunft.  @r  gibt  b^ierfiir  fid)  unb  att  fein  iieben  unb  SBirfen  bem 
neuen  9lboptio-£anbe.  (Srft  biejenigen,  :oelcfie  ben  mddjttgen  Unterfc^ieb  bt> 
greifen,  roelc^en  eg  inactjt,  ob  bag  amerifanifc^e  %ol!  jujammengefefct  roirb  aus 
abljangigen  ©oloniften,  ober  ftc^  felbft  bilbet  aug  freien  (Sinroanberern,  oerfte* 
^en  aud^  ooUftanbig,  line  unenblid^  rcic^tig  biefer  ©efid&tspunft  bei  ber  ^Betrad^: 
tung  unb  SSiirbigung  ber  neuen  2lera  ift,  roeld^e  in  ber  2lnfteblung  beg  -ftorb* 
roefteng  (1788)  anfing  unb  f either  in  fteter  progreffioer  ©ntroidtlung  ib,ren  SSer» 
lauf  b,atte. 

©ie,  bie  freie  ©inroanberung,  roar  aber  nidjt  nur  bag  2Biberfpiel  gegen  bie 
©olonifation ;  fie  roar  aucb,  ber  Sobtengraber  ber  Sieger: (£infub,r  unb  ber  ©Ha* 
oerei;  benn  fte  beroieg,  bafe  freie  2lrbeit  meb,r  leiftet  a(g  ©flaoenarbeit,  roeil, 
roab,renb  le^tere  nur  ben  93efifcern,  bie  erftere  auc^  ben  2lrbeitern  eine  genuf;- 
reic^e  (Sjiftenj  fic^ert. 

2Bir  fbnnen,  auggeftattet  mit  biefer  tontnifc  ber  ©ac^Iage  (2lnno  1788) 
unb  ben  fie  oeranlaffenben  oorfjerge^enben  (Sreigniffen,  je^t  unfere  2lufgabe  be« 
ftimmter  unb  flarer  auffaffen  unb  oerfuc&en,  ben  X^eil  ju  ermttteln,  roelcb,en 
bie  2)eutfd^en  unb  ib,re  9^ac^Iommen  an  ber  roeiteren  2lnfteblung  unb  ©ntroict* 
lung  fatten. 

2)en  Z^eil!  2Bem  faUen  ba  ni$t  ^-auft's  2Corte  ein:  ,,2)u  nennft  bi$ 
einen  X^eil  unb  ftefjft  boc^  ganj  oor  mir."  2)ie  ©inroanberung  bilbet  ja  bag 
©anje  ber  2lnfteblung  unb  ©ntroicflung  beg  -ftorbroefteng.  Unb  bamit  ift  bie 
beutfdje  ©mroanberung  fo  innig  oerfloc^ten,  baf;  jebe.feparate  2)arfteUung  nur 
ein  3errbilb  bringen  fann. 

Xagegen  roar  ber  JUerlauf  im  yiorbroeften  eine  2lrt  JBerroirflid^ung  beg  cfje* 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.        97 


mifd^en  9taturgefefceg,  nod)  roeldjem  jroei  2Raterien,  bie  imter  fid)  fcinc  2tffinis 
tat  fyaben,  baburdj  $u  eincr  ©ubftanj  roerben,  baft  man  bie  jroei  mit  einer  brit* 
ten  in  Sontalt  bringt,  roeldje  Slffinitat  ju  beiben  fjat.  $Bir  erfennen  bag  ©leid)* 
nife  in  bem  3ufammenbringen  ber  jroei  6inroanberuna.en  englifcfjer  unb  beutfrf)er 
2lbfunft,  roeldje  im  9iorbroeften  jufammenfltefjen  unb  ein  SSoIf  bilben,  bag  tn 
©uropa  unmbglicf)  roare. 

$6)  fprerfje  bieg  tyeute  nor  ^nen  aug,  nad)bem  id)  efyrlicty  oerfuc^t  ^abe, 
ba§  mir  fefyr  beutlic^  oorltegenbe  X^ema,  bas  mtr  aber  immer  roieber  burc^  bie 
finger  jc^liipfte,  fc^arf  ju  faffen  unb  5()nen  etroag  Seftimmteg  bariiber  oorju* 
legen.  :$<$  fam  sum  ©djlufj,  bafe,  roie  roir  eine  gefd)trf)tlirf)e  2?arftetlung  voi-- 
augjd^idfteng,  nun  audj  am  beften  fein  rotrb,  roenn  ic^  oorerft  allgemeine  9ie-- 
jultate  oorlege  unb  bann  barau3  fiir  Sie  ^olgecungen  ableite  unb  befpredje. 

2)iefen  SSorfa^  fii^rte  id)  aug,  inbem  ic^  folgenbe  gafylen  bem  S8er.  <Staaten 
oon  1883  entna^m: 


@g   befinbet  fi<$   in  ben  fiinf  ©taaten  beS   sJ?orbroefteneJ  einc 
©efammt:SBet)6Iferung  von  .............................................          11,206,668 

$>arunter  ftnb  im  2lu3lanb  geboren  ...................................  1,916,830 

3)ie  2)eut)cf)en,  einjc^Iiefilic^  Defterreic^er  unb  ©c^roetjer,  betru* 
gen  nad^  meiner  Serec^nung  ..........................................  1,000,000 

2)ie  ^ac^fommen  berfelben  angefdjlagen  ju  ..........................  2,000,000 

25aS  ganje  beutfrfje  element  betriige  alfo  ............................  3,000,000 

3)er  (SenfuS  jeigt  ferner,  bafe  bag  gefammte  fteuerbare  SBermo* 
mbgen  ift  ..................................................................    14,463,685,070 

2)a£  SerpltniB  ber  Seoblferung  beg  beutfdjen  (Slementg  ift  nac^ 
5?opfja^l  rote  3  ju  11,  unb  roenn  man  bag  Sermogen  banac^ 
Dertljeilt,  fo  lame  auf  bag  beutjdje  ©lement  ein  SSermogen 
oon  .......................................  ...................................  $1,217,068,656 

25iefe  2luffteHung  bietet  auf  ben  erften  33ltcf  blog  eine  aUgemeine  S3eran* 
fd^aulid^ung.  3^e^en  roir  aber  tiann  auc^  ^atfac^en  in  53etrad)t,  roeld^e  ung 
felbft,  oljne  ben  Senfug,  befannt  ftnb,  unb  unfere  2lnfdjauungen  erroeitern  fid) 
unb  eg  finben  genauere  (Sinftdjten  ftatt.  2Bir  fe^en  bann  balb,  ba&  ber  ge« 
fammte  Setrag  beg  angegebenen  SSermogeng  eigentlic^  grbjjer  ift  ;  benn  2lb* 
fd)Sfcungen  fiir  ©teuerjroede  liefern  fleinere  3Q^en»  al^  t>ie  im  SSerfe^r  ublidjen^ 
2luc^  rotrb  nic^t  aUeg  SSermbgen  etnberic^tet.  2Btr  roiffen  auc^,  bafj  eg  bebeu* 
tenbe  Unterfd^tebe  im  inbioibueflen  ^ermbgengbeft^  gibt,  aber  nidjt  ebenfo  jroi* 
fd^en  ben  @d)id)ten  ber  ©efellfc^aft  ober  ben  ^Beoblferungg^Glementen;  benn  bie 
^robitftion,  Sonfumtion  unb  SSert^eilung  beg  Sermbgeng  ^at  ^ier  me^r  ©ben* 
ma£  ale  anbergroo,  roetl  unfere  focialen  ©letc^ungen  ^ier  fd^nefler,  fcf)drfer  unb 
ftarler  roirfen.  2)ag  roar  aHerbingg  fritter  in  nod^  grbfeerem  2Hajjftabe  ber  ^aE 
alg  je^t,  roeil  fd^on  oon  2lnfang  an  me^r  foctale  ©leid^^eit  beftanb  unb  felbft 
bie  inbioibueUert  llngleic^^etten  feltener  roaren.  2lud?  beroirft  bie  freie  Ginroan* 
7 


98  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


berung  an  ft$  ®let$ungen,  roeil  f$on  oor  ber  2lu3roanberung  bie  ^nbioibuen 
ft$  priifen,  ob  fte  befafjigt  finb,  ben  2lnberen  gegenuber,  roelc^e  [it  b,ier  treffen, 
unb  mit  benen  fte  ben  ftampf  beg  Sebeng  ju  roagen  fjaben,  bie  ©tange  ju  fjafc 
ten.  2>ie  Sluggleidje,  bie  fn'er  folgen,  biirfen  auc^  nidjt  oergeffen  roerben.  ©ie 
beftefjen  in  gegenfeitigen  S3erid)tigungen,  refpeftioe  Slblegungen  con  2Kdngeln. 
2Bir  fagen:  ,,gegenfeittg,"  benn  fein  SSolISt^eil,  roeber  ber  eingeroanberte  nodj 
ber  anfdfftge,  bebarf  ^ier  ber  (Sorreltion  allein,  unb  feiner  con  beiben  ift  aUetn 
ber  (Sorreftor.  3Kan  barf  nur  bie  2lugen  aufmad^en,  um  biefe  ©egenfeitigfeit 
ju  erbltdfen. 

3roei  ©ontrafte  treten  aber,  fd^eint  e^  mir,  bei  ber  Setrad^tung  ber  oors 
liegenben  2luffteIIung,  3ebem  oon  un^  unroiUIiirlic^  cor  bie  2lugen,  ndmlic^: 

1.  2)er  S^orbroeften  oon  1788,  o^ne  3Solf  unb  o^ne  SBermogen  in  unferem 
©inne. 

2.  2)er  SRorbroe[ten  oon   1888,  mit  elf  2HiHionen  Seoolferung  unb  oier 
unb  ein^alb  Xaufenb  2)iiflionen  SSermogen.  * 

llnb  bei  ber  Sontraftirung  roimmeln  9tefleftionen  in  unferen  ©ebanfen. 

SGBir  fe^en,  ba&  bie  ©ummen  bie  9tetto=©rtrage  ber  2eben§»  unb  @rroerb3< 
^a^igfeiten  eineS  b^unbertidb^rigen  3lingcn§  mit  geograp^ifd^en,  climatifd^en,  fo* 
cialen  unb  inbim'bueUen  Urfati^en  maren.  9letto  bebeutet,  ba§  babei  ftaitgefun* 
bene  llnloften,  2luSlagen  unb  SSerlufte  abgejogen,  b.  ^.  gebecft  ftnb.  2Btr  roiffen 
roob,l,  baft,  roenn  biefe  babei  rociren,  beren  ®efammts<Summe  an  SKenfc^enleben 
unb  SSermogen  grower  rodre,  alS  bie  un3  oorltegenbe.  ©g  roar  nid^t  nur  ein 
greubenleben,  ober  ein  2lrbeiten  unb  ©ute§tb,un;  fonbern  eg  gab  aiid&  SSerbre* 
d9en,  ^e^ler,  Mangel,  Unrest  unb  SSerrouftungen.  ©^  roar  ein  $ampf  sroifc^en 
5lultur  unb  ttnfultur,  ©eftttung  unb  llngefittung,  ^rtteUtgenj  mit  Summ^eit, 
^leif;  mit  $aul§eit,  unb  Xugenb  mit  ©rfjled^tigfeit ;  in  roeld)em  aber  bie  erft* 
genannten  obftegten  unb  ein  5Retto»iRefuItat  al3  Seroeig  oorjeigen. 

3dj  glaube,  man  fjatte,  non  2lnfang  anf  bie  ©inroanberer  jd^len  unb  in 
3tubrifen  eintfyeilen  fonnen.  2lud^  rodren  fortlaufenbe  @eburt§=  unb  2lbfunft§* 
liften  moglid^  geroefen,  aber  id)  roeife  aud?,  bafc  bieferlei  ©tatiftil  nur  fe^r  t^eil* 
roeife  gefub/rt  rourbe.  %tf)  fann  alfo  2$nen  nid^t  in  3a^e«/  ""^  fonft  ben 
X^eil  oorlegen,  ben  bie  2)eutfd^en  in  biefem  9tingen  unb  Hdmpfen  getragen 
Ijaben.  tlnb  ba  mtiflen  eben  meine  ©rinnerungen  aus  50-jdf)rigem  2lufenlb,aUe 
Ijier,  unb  auS  mir  uon  2lnbern  ©rsa^ltem  au^^elfen.  llnb  id^  fage  %fynen, 
bafc  2iae3  in  Slttem  e^rlic^  in  Setrac^t  gejogen,  feineS  ber  Seoolferungg*©Ie* 
mente  ^iet  befonberS  oiel  Urfad^e  b,at,  ftdj  felbft  ^eroorjutjeben,  nod?  roeniger 
2lnbere  fjerabjufefcen.  %$  b,abe  micb,  jeber  Uebertreibung  ju  ©unften  beS  2)eut« 
fd^en  ent^alten,  aber  roa^r  bleibt  es  bod^,  bafs  bie  3)eutjd9en  nidEjt  nur  ib,ren 
Xb,eil,  fonbern  ein  guteS  @tiid!  bariiber  geleiftet  Ijaben.* 

©g  ift  ein  alteS  ©priic^roort:  M2Bag  bem  ©inen  rec^t  ift,  ift  bem  2lnbern 
biHig."  Unb  ba  muti  gefagt  roerben,  eg  gab  fefir  2Senige,  bie  f)ier  nid^t  ib,re 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  99 


(Srroerbgfdljigfeiten  aug  eigenem  Slntrieb  erpfjten.  2lber  eg  gab  aud)  nur  feljr 
SSenige,  benen  bie  ©efammtljeit  nidpt  niifcte.  ®g  roar  immer  nidjt  nur  bag 
SBirfen  beg  ©injelnen  auf  feinc  -ftebenmenfdjen,  fonbcrn  aud)  bie  SRudtorirfung 
beg  @an§en  auf  2lfle.  Benn  roir  alfo  alg  93afig  fur  bie  Sbfung  unferer  2luf« 
gabe  bie  Hopfjafjl  nafmien,  fo  famen  roir  bet  3Baf)r§ett  niifyer,  als  roir  gefom* 
men  rodren  burd)  gufammenabbiren  Don  Ginjelljeiten. 

ftein  Xfyeil  beg  ^orbroefteng  l)at  je  einen  beftimmten  3$eil.bed  SSermbgenS  im 
Sanbe  gefc^affen  ober  erroorben,  benn  es  beftanb  ^ier  immer  ein  innereS  3wla»"* 
menroirlen  unb  eine  inttme  ©egenfeitigfeit,  roeld^e  jebe  ©onberaufja^lung  jur  lln» 
gered^tigfeit  mad^t.  2)a3  sJlennen  »on  befonber^  iHeid^geroorbenen  rodre  eine  ttn* 
billtgleit,  benn  ba§  Sluffc^Iagen  im  ^reisroertt)  beo  liegenben  I5igentl)ums  Ijai  bie 
meiften  grofeen  ^etd^t^iimer  ^ter  oeranlafit,  unb  biefeS  ©teigen  ift  groBtenl^eilS 
nur  bad  ^robuft  ber  burd)  (Sinroanberung  fcfjnell  (teigenben  ^ermebrung  ber  93e< 
oollerung.  35 te  93e^anblung  unferer  2lufgabe  nad)  allgemeinen  Stanbpunften  ift 
befe^alb  auc^  ber  ricbtige  2Seg  jum  SSerftdnbnife  einer  ©efc^ic^te  oon  einem  Sanb 
unb  einem  S3olfe,  baS  fo  innig  oerbunben  ift,  ba|  man  fuglidj  fagen  fann  :  bafeje* 
beg  Sob  eineg  X^eileg  ber  Seoolferung  ein  Sob  fiir  2lHe  ift,  roie  auc^,  bafe  jeber 
Xabel  auf  2lQe  juriicffdUt. 

S3  roirb  roa^rfrfjeinlic^  fiir  alle  biejenigen,  incite  babei  ju  !ur;  !ommen,  dr- 
gerUd^  fein,  auf  biefe  9Ceife  in  einer  ©efammtred^nung  aufjugefjen.  2lber  bann 
mufe  ic^  fie  baran  erinnern,  bafj  ein  folc^eg  ^ufge^en,  roie  roir  gejeigt  Ijaben,  oon 
9lnfang  an,  bei  ber  freien  (Sinroanberung  bag  Kennjeid^en  ift.  %a,  ic^  moc^te 
fragen:  Db  eg  nic^t  bag  allgemeine  @d)iclfal  afleg  focialen  3uiamtnenrotrfeng 
ift?  2)er  2)ic^ter  fagt: 

,,35ag  i'ooe,  bag  iMIIen  jugefaQen, 
a»uf;  auc^  bag  befte  Soog  fur  Sltte  fein." 

Seiber  ^at  eg  aud^  in  ben  SSer.  ©taaten  Seute  gegeben,  bie  fiir  i^re  @taa« 
ten  unb  beren  33eooIIerung  befonbere  3$ortreffUd)!eit  in  ber  Seitung  bffentlid^er 
Slngelegen^eiten  unb  bem  (Sinfii^ren  oon  fteformen  beanfpruc^ten.  2lber  biefeg 
ift  roeber  Sirginien,  noc^  ben  ^eu«@nglanbern  je  auf  bie  8dnge  ber  &\t  gelun« 
gen;  unb  jroar  aug  bem  einfad^en  ©runbe,  roeil  bag  unjd^lbare  ©octale  ^ier 
bie  grofeen  ©trbmungen  Deranlafet,  an  roeld^en  2f)eil  genommen  ju  ^aben,  ber 
(S^rgeij  feine  Sorbeeren  empfdngt.  2lber  ein  foldfjer  3tu^m  ift  Doriiberge^enb, 
roeil  bag  ©anje  alien  ©Ian)  fcfjliefelidj  in  Jlnfpruc^  nimmt.  3Cir  25eutfc^»2lmes 
rilaner  biirfen  fro^  fein,  bafe  eg  fo  ift,  benn  eg  fdjufct  ung  gegen  fo  mandje 
Xpranntftrung  ^ier,  bafe  ber  ec^te  patriotifc^e  ©inn  unfereg'^olfeg  eg  nic^t  er« 
taubt  §at,  bafe  gerotffe  fleinlic^e  Senfunggarten  fic^  alg  nationale  (Sigenfc^aften 
oorfteHen  burften,  fonbern  juriidtfaflen  mufeten  in  i^re  urfpriinglid^e  "iltenigfeit. 

Saftt  ung  alfo  feft^alten  an  ber  flaren  ©rfenntnife,  auf  roelcfje  unfere  ilnter* 
fuc^ung  fo  fdjarf  ^inbeutet,  ndmlic^  bie,  bafe  bie  Slnfteblung  unb  (Sntroicflung 
beg  ftorbroefteng  einen  befferen  ^erlauf  ^atte,  roeil  fein  SJoH  |ic^  felbft  augbil* 
bete  unter  freier  @inroanberung,  alg  gefdjef)en  rodre,  roenn  eg  am  ©dngelbanbe 


IOO  REPORT   OF   THE    COMMISSIONERS   OF   THE 


trgenb  einet  polittfdjen  ober  religiofen  Oberfjerrfd^aft  jufammengefiigt  roorben 
afire. 

©te  erlauben  mir  rootyl  nun  nodlj  einige  ©cfjlufjroorte.  @g  roar  mtr  in 
mcinem  SJortrage  barum  ju  tljun,  bafj  <Sie  Bet  ber  Sefprecbung  einer  ©eite  ber 
©acfje,  roeld)er  3(jre  $eierlid)ieit  gilt,  genau  erfaljren  foUten,  um  roag  eg  ftdj 
1788  (janbelte  unb  3$nen  anjubeuten,  roeldje  2fla§regeln  bag  2fteifte  jur  ©d}lid}» 
tung  unb  S5fung  ber  bamaligen  3etlliiftung  bettrugen.  3)iefe  meine  2lbftc^t 
lag  in  bem  mir  oorgefd^riebencn  Xtyma.  3)ie  2)eutfc^en,  bercn  S^eile  an  ber 
2lnfteblung  unb  ber  (Sntroicflung  beg  ftorbroeftenS  ic^  finben  unb  batfieUen 
foflte,  roaren  ©inroanberer.  2)a^  fie  in'3  Sanb  famen,  roar  if)r  erfter  Seitrag 
jur  2lnfteblung ;  baft  fte  frei  famen,  bie  SBorbebingung  ju  i^rer  ©inrei^ung  in'S 
^iefige  SBttrgerrec^t,  unb  i^r  §auptoerbienft  nad^^er  roar  i^r  ooUftanbigeg  2luf» 
ge^en  im  aboptirten  SSaterlanb.  2lber  es  roar  audj  ein  SSerbienft  in  ben  oor 
i^nen  2lnfaffigen,  bafe  fie  i^nen  bas  erleid&terten  burd?  ©ntgegenfommen,  3U* 
fammenroirfen  unb  gegenfeitige  ©teigerung,  benn  barauS  entroicfelten  ftd^  bie 
©taaten  i^re  Roller,  bie  Sanbguter,  Sffierfftatten,  gabrifen,  2lnftalten  aller  2lrt, 
rote  aud?  bie  ©tabte  unb  Sejirfe.  Unb  e§  roar  ein  %&  2lnorbnung^= Somite 
e^renber  @eban!e,  bag  eg  biefe  llmflanbe  erforfd^t  unb  ba§  SRefultat  offentlidj 
auSgefprodjen  §aben  roottte.  Db  idj  feinen  2Biinfdjen  ehtjproc^en,  iiberlaffe 
ic^  3^rem  llrt^eil. 

Unb  nun  §abe  icfj  babei  ein  9lnliegen;  id)  mod^te  nainlid?  <Sie  inftanbig 
baran  ma^nen,  baft  ber  j?itt,  ber  ben  ^orbroeften  feit  1788  mefjr  unb  me^r 
entroidtelte  unb  befeftigte,  auc^  in  ber  3u!unft  ber  ^itt  fein  mu^  jur  ©id^erung 
ber  permanenten  3Bo^Ifa^rt.  2)erfelbe  ift  fein  anberer  al§  ba§  ©efii^l  beg  3u* 
fammenge^oreng  unb  beS  3ufQ"tn'cnroir!eng.  2)aS  ift  bie  Sefjre,  roeld^e  bie  ®es 
fcf)icf)te  beg  oerfloffenen  3a^^unbertS  feinem  -ftacfjfolger  bietet.  5Koge  biefed 
fte  roteber  bieten  feinen  ^ad^folgern  unb  fo  roeiter  fiir  immer. 


/\ddress   of  Jiorv.   Charles 


OF  CINCINNATI,  OHIO. 

(English  Translation!) 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  The  kind  invitation  of  your  committee  of  ar 
rangements  to  make  a  speech  before  you,  with  special  reference  to  the  German 
pioneers,  and  the  part  which  the  Germans  and  their  descendants  bore  in  the  set 
tlement  and  development  of  the  States  that  were  formed  out  of  the  Northwestern 
Territory,  was  acceptable  and  dear  to  me,  because  it  is  an  honorable  acknowledg- 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  IOI 


ment,  that  not  only  the  natives  of  England  and  their  descendants  were  the  fac 
tors  of  historic  events  here,  but  that  Germans  and  their  descendants  have  co 
operated  therein. 

I  recognize  the  appropriateness  and  importance  of  such  a  presentation;  but 
fear  that  the  task  will  be  difficult  to  fulfill  without,  even  with  the  most  conscien 
tious  treatment  of  the  theme,  offending  certain  sensitive  persons,  who  see,  in  such 
presentation,  an  infringement  on  the  proprieties  belonging  to  the  natives  of  this 
country. 

I  deemed  it  therefore  proper  to  express  this  fear  already  in  my  letter  of  ac 
ceptance,  and  to  give  the  assurance  that  I  would  do  my  utmost  to  avoid  such 
misapprehensions.  And  I  renew  these  assurances  now  before  you,  and  ask  for 
friendly  indulgence  as  to  any  defects  in  my  remarks. 

The  subject  submitted  to  me  prescribes  a  presentation  of  a  definite  side  of 
the  epoch  celebrated  to-day ;  but,  in  my  opinion,  it  will  do  no  harm,  if  we  dis 
cuss  previously  a  few  of  the  data  that  occurred  before,  so  that  you  may  be  pre 
pared  for  understanding  fully  the  situation  at  the  time. 

Its  main  point  is:  That  at  that  period  the  Northwest  was  open  to  free  immi 
gration,  and  not  only  to  settlers  of  North  America,  but  also  to  immigrants  from 
the  different  states  of  Europe.  Putnam  and  his  forty  associates  were  immigrants, 
as  well  as  the  Moravian  Brotherhood,  that  erected  the  village  of  Gnadenhutten, 
in  the  northern  part  of  Ohio.  And  for  a  long  time  afterwards,  it  fell  to  the  lot 
of  immigrants  to  bear  the  burden  of  the  settlement  of  the  Northwest,  except  so 
far  as  the  United  States  troops  took  charge  of  the  defenses. 

It  was  at  that  time,  and  for  a  long  time  afterwards,  the  character  of  all  im 
migrants  to  serve  each  other  mutually,  and  to  stand  up  all  for  one,  and  one  for 
all ;  for  thus  only  could  they  impart  to  their  ^existence  a  certain  security.  The 
Indians,  so  proud~ofThe7rTDirth,  they  regarded  so  intensely  as  inveterate  enemies, 
that  it  excluded  from  their  own  minds  any  claim  of  superiority  on  account  of. 
nativity.  They  asked  only  whether  a  settler  was  true  to  his  associates ;  and  i\ 
remains  an  unsolved  riddle,  how  nativistic  prejudices  could  arise  among  them 
afterwards. 

The  settlement  of  the  West  of  North  America,  was,  in  the  eighteenth  cen 
tury,  for  fifty  years  an  object  of  quarrel  between  different  claimants  of  the  land; 
there  could  not,  for  that  reason,  take  place  the  formation  of  a  people.  Officially, 
France's  possession  of  the  country  was  not  disputed  before  1763  ;  but  the  English 
colonial  officers  supported  underhandedly  the  incursions  of  residents  from  the 
Eastern  colonies,  and  their  disturbances  of  the  clerical,  political  and  social  regu 
lations  of  France.  The  French  commanders  resented  this  by  fomenting  hatreds 
amongst  the  Indians  against  English  settlements.  These  settlements  were  justified 
on  the  plea  that  those  who  lived  in  the  country  itself  had  first  claim  to  the 
country,  and  that  foreigners,  like  the  French,  had  no  prior  claim.  It  must  be 
asked,  however,  admitting  the  truth  of  the  position,  whether  the  English  were 
not  foreigners  also?  The  Albany  Convention,  1759,  had,  besides  a  Union  plan, 


[02  REPORT   OF   THE   COMMISSIONERS   OF   THE 


also  a  Land  Plan  before  it,  and  in  it  disposition  was  made  of  lands  in  the  North 
west  that  were  notoriously  in  the  possession  of  France. 

The  West  was  regarded  as  the  ward  of  the  East,  and  that  laws  could  be 
enacted  ad  libitum  for  it.  The  phrase,  "Westward  the  star  of  Empire  takes  its 
way,"  expressed  this,  and  formed  the  motive  of  many  steps  tending  that  way. 
The  West  is,  however,  now  grown  too  large  for  such  measures,  and  it  is  minded 
to  reverse  the  point,  and  to  renew  an  older  claim,  to  wit :  That  the  sea-coast 
belonged  to  the  interior  of  a  country,  because  no  one  has  the  right  to  exclude 
any  interior  from  access  to  the  world.  Politics,  too,  have  weather  vanes  that  turn 
with  the  wind. 

An  episode  of  that  period  may  well  be  told  here.  There  was  formed  in  1749 
already  an  Ohio  Land  Company,  that  consisted  of  London  merchants  and  Vir 
ginia  planters  ;  among  them  Washington's  brothers.  The  then  governor  of  Vir 
ginia  furnished  George  Washington  with  an  officer's  commission  which  gave  him 
access  to  the  French  officers — the  celebrated  Gallisonnier  and  Legardeur  de  St. 
Pierre.  At  his  visit  they  surprised  him  by  the  declaration  that  all  land  westward 
of  the  watershed  of  the  Alleghany  mountains  belonged  to  France,  and  that  all 
attempts  to  found  colonies  would  be  resented  as  hostile  acts.  Washington,  who 
considered  the  French  as  intruders,  had  entered,  under  the  laws  of  Virginia, 
near  Parkersburg,  3,000  acres  of  land  then  already.  They  are  the  same  lands 
that  are  called  to-day  "Washington's  Bottoms."  I  was  in  1843  trustee  for 
German  heirs  fo"r  adjacent  lands,  and  heard  this  matter  from  neighbors. 

By  the  treaty  of  Paris,  1763,  at  the  end  of  the  Seven  Years'  War  in  Germany* 
France  surrendered  to  England  its  claim  to  Canada,  to  which  the  Northwest  then 
belonged.  In  the  same  document  were  then  settled  English,  French,  American 
and  German  disputes,  in  the  expectation  that  peace  would  come  everywhere. 
But  that  was  not  the  case  here.  The  Indians  and  the  colonists,  with  their  back 
woodsmen,  quarreled  among  each  other,  and  with  England,  until  1783.  At  the 
conclusion  of  peace  at  the  end  of  the  war  for  our  independence,  England  sur 
rendered  her  supremacy.  The  quarreling  parties  were  now  the  backwoodsmen, 
the  States,  and  the  United  States. 

During  the  whole  time,  1735  to  1783,  there  was  in  the  Northwest  only  a 
small  number  of  persons,  namely,  the  Moravian  Brethren,  called  also  "  Herrn- 
huters,"  that  effected  settlements  in  the  West  without  great  selfishness.  They, 
the  Moravians,  are  really  the  pioneers  of  German  immigration.  They  sent,  1758, 
Frederick  Post  on  a  mission  to  Ohio.  He  was  born  in  Germany,  was  Herrnhuter, 
and  came  as  such  to  Philadelphia,  whence  he  was  sent  to  the  Indians  of  the 
West  to  convert  them ;  but  also  the  descendants  of  Europeans,  French,  as  well 
as  English,  of  their  malignancies  against  each  other.  He  made  an  address  at  a 
conference  appointed  for  him,  to  all  concerned.  It  was  a  masterpiece  of  elo 
quence  for  philanthropy.  But  he  preached  to  deaf  ears;  because  his  listeners 
were  prepossessed  by  promises  that  prevented  their  conversion. 

Please  take  this  act  of  mediation,  by  the  German  Missionary,  fully  into  con- 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  1 03 


sideration,  for  it  is  the  key  to  an  understanding  of  the  best  services  which  Ger 
man  modes  of  conduct  have  ever  secured  here.  The  Herrnhuters  were  a  protest 
of  mildly,  pious  Christians  against  the  wild,  pietistic  intrusive  pushings  of  re 
ligious  propagandists.  Luther's  character  was  a  similar  protest  against  Knox 
and  Calvin.  The  Herrnhuters  came,  mark  it,  from  Germany,  whose  States  had 
no  colonial  interests  here  that  crossed  other  interests;  and  from  this  cause  they 
had  the  free  mind  that  could  see  things  in  their  right  light,  and  give  impartial 
counsel  where  others  confirmed  hatreds.  Therein  consisted,  as  to-day,  the  better 
development  of  America. 

Now,  however,  we  must  not  omit  to  mention  the  aid  France  gave  to  the 
Young  Republic  in  the  struggle  for  liberty,  1776-1783.  This  aid  came  in  the 
nick  of  time  to  turn  victory  to  the  cause  of  liberty.  Then  came  the  salvation 
of  America  by  the  conjunction  of  several  forces,  of  which  Europe  contributed 
its  full  share.  We  may  well  ask :  Will  it  ever  be  otherwise  ?  Do  not  all  the 
truly  great  events  arise  out  of  the  international  co-operation — call  it  cosmopoli 
tanism  ? 

As  already  mentioned,  England  gave  up  in  1783  its  supremacy.  But  to 
whom  ?  that  was  the  question.  The  Indians  denied,  of  cours,  all  and  every  claim 
to  rights  of  property  which  they  had  not  sanctioned,  and  the  States  claimed  that 
the  pre-emption  obtained  for  those  living  on  the  Eastern  shores,  over  the  West 
ern  land  belonged  now  to  them.  They  used  the  land  either  for  revenue  or  for 
borrowing.  Now  came  Maryland  and  other  Atlantic  States,  that,  not  having 
frontiers  which  bore  immediately  on  the  Western  Territories,  would  not,  under 
the  doctrine  stated,  have  been  entitled  to  any  lands — and  demanded  that  the 
Union  Government — then  recognized  under  the  articles  of  Confederation — should 
be  made  the  possessor  of  all  public  lands,  but  that  those  already  disposed  of  by 
the  States,  in  Kentucky  and  Ohio,  should  be  excepted.  This  demand,  the  Union 
Government  supported  by  appropriate  resolutions,  and  finally  the  States  yielded 
their  claims  under  those  resolutions,  and  the  settlement  of  the  Northv/est  thus 
became  the  object  of  National  politics,  with  extended  and  extending  views  and 
corresponding  rights  and  duties.  Here  was  an  opportunity  to  shelve  all  feuda] 
malformations,  and  to  found  a  free  future.  But  it  was  not  improved  ;  on  the  con- 
trary,  old  technicalities  and  entanglements  were  carried  forward. 

Between  1783  and  1787,  there  was  a  weak  Union  Government  alongside  oi 
very  procrastinating  States  as  to  the  fulfillment  of  their  duties.  There  was  a 
bottomless  confusion  in  all  financial  relations ;  because  the  public  lands  had  been 
used  for  their  fiscal  desires  so  wrongly,  that  they  would  no  longer  serve  as  a 
financial  basis.  There  was  no  reliable,  correct  taxation,  and  Washington,  Fraak- 
lin  and  Madison  saw  that  a  stronger  and  more  energetic  government  and  admin 
istration  was  necessary.  Under  their  advice,  the  three  well-known  relief  meas 
ures,  viz.:  The  new  Constitution,  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  for  the  Northwest 
Territory,  and  the  Land  act,  were  now  passed ;  they  are  the  glory  of  the  time  we 
celebrate  to-day. 


104  REPORT   OF   THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


For  us,  however,  there  is  a  fourth,  namely  :  The  abolition  of  colonial  poli 
tics  and  the  entry  of  free  immigration  on  the  public  stage,  with  its  daily  freer 
direction.  It  became  the  constituting  power,  and  it,  as  everybody  knows,  is 
more  effective  and  continuous  than  constitutions.  It  gave  to  all  a  higher,  useful 
activity.  It  realized  for  North  America  Goethe's  saying  : 

"  That  we  move  about,  around  and  over  it ;  that's  why  the  world's  so  great." 

Now,  for  the  first  time,  because  it  introduced  and  expanded  an  American 
idea  of  the  formation  of  a  people,  and  strengthened  it — the  United  States  entered 
the  inter-national  circle  of  the  world,  and  became  finally  free  from  England  and 
all  its  pretensions.  The  new  world  now  was  a  world ;  for  it  took  one  up  into 
itself.  And  to  be  a  world  is  the  best  aim  of  a  great  nation,  if  "  world ''  is  in  the 
mind  of  its  statesmen.  To  us  it  is  a  £bund  maxim  to  say:  Free  bodily  immi 
gration  is  just  as  necessary  to  the  world's  civilization  as  the  free  spread  of  intelli 
gence,  virtue  and  wisdom.  And  here  it  becomes  necessary  that  we  should  explain 
the  distinction  between  former  colonization  and  the  free  immigration  that  began 
in  1787.  We  do  it  according  to  the  conception  of  Professor  L,  Von  Stein.  He 
holds  both  to  be  :  Equating  processes  in  the  earth's  population.  Colonization 
carries  this  on,  according  to  the  instructions  of  dynastic,  ecclesiastic,  and  other 
authorities,  who  seek  an  expansion  of  their  power.  The  colonist  remains  a  subject 
and  is  means  to  an  object.  In  free  emigration  and  immigration,  individuality 
attains  full  liberty ;  for  the  free  migrator  wants  to  stand,  socially,  higher.  He 
cuts  himself  off  from  his  prior  domicile,  and  all  the  political  ties  and  duties  that 
bound  him  before.  He  puts  himself  in  as  pledge,  and  assumes  personally  the 
risk  of  his  future.  He  gives,  therefore,  all  his  life  and  work  to  his  new-adopted 
home.  His  movements  are  forward,  with  very  few  looks  to  the  rear.  Only  those 
who  comprehend  the  mighty  difference  whether  the  American  people  is  made 
up  of  dependent  colonists,  or  forms  itself  out  of  free  immigrants — understands 
also  completely  how  immeasurably  important  this  enlarged  view  is  in  the  consid 
eration  and  estimation  of  the  new  era,  which  began  in  the  settlement  of  the 
Northwest,  1788,  and  has  since  had  its  progressive  development  and  course.  Free 
immigration  was  not  merely  the  counterpart  of  colonization;  it  was  also  the 
grave-digger  for  negro  importation  and  slavery ;  for  it  proved  that  free  labor 
causes  more  wealth  than  slave  labor,  because,  while  the  latter  makes  rich  only 
the  owner,  the  former  secures  also  to  the  workman  an  enjoyable  and  honorable 
existence. 

We  may  now  take  up  our  task  more  definitely  and  clearly,  and  seek  to  make 
out  the  part  the  Germans  and  their  descendants  had  in  the  settlement  and  de. 
velopment  of  the  Northwest.  The  word  "  part "  comes  up  clearly  here,  and 
involuntarily  Faust's  words  rise  to  mind  : 

"You  call  yourself  a  part,  and  stand  entire  before  me." 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  1 05 


It  does  so  because,  though  we  clearly  realize  that  American  society  in  the 
Northwest  is  composed  of  various  elements,  of  which  the  German  is  indeed  one — 
yet  it  stands,  after  all,  in  our  minds  as  an  entirety  that  has  reacted  on  its  parts, 
and,  after  modifying  them  and  being  modified,  all  are  so  intimately  blended 
together  that  the  elements  are  no  longer  separately  distinguishable.  We  venture 
to  make  this  palpable  to  you  all  by  using  a  simile.  You  know  that  chemistry 
teaches  that  there  is  a  natural  law,  by  which  two  substances  that  have  no  affinity 
between  each  other  may  be  turned  into  one  substance  by  bringing  both  in  contact 
with  a  third  substance  that  has  affinity  to  both.  If,  now,  we  take  the  English  as 
one  popularatory  element,  and  the  German  as  another,  and  then  consider  the 
Northwest  as  a  third,  we  have  the  exemplification  of  the  simile  we  suggest. 

The  two  now  progressing  English  and  German  immigrations  that  flow  to 
gether  in  the  Northwest,  form  here  one  people  that  would  be  impossible  in 
Europe.  I  express  this  to-day  before  you  after  endeavoring  to  grasp  sharply  the 
theme  placed  before  me  so  distinctly,  which  I  am  to  elucidate  into  a  definite  con 
ception,  that  as  we  began  by  premising  a  historic  presentation,  so  it  would  be 
best  now  to  give  first  again  some  general  results,  and  then  draw  from  them  and 
bespeak  deductions. 

This  purpose  I  think  now  to  accomplish  by  laying  before  you  the  following 
statement  taken  from  the  census  of  1880: 

There  was  in  the  five  States  composing  the  Northwest,  a  total 

population  of 11,206,663 

Of  this  were  foreign-born 1,916,830 

The  Germans,  including  Austrians  and  Swiss,  whom  I  estimate  at  1,000,000 

Their  descendants  at 2,000,000 

This  makes  the  whole  German  element  3,000,000 

The  census  further  shows : 
The  whole  taxable  property  in  the  United  States  to  be $4,436,685,020 

And  as  the  proportion  of  the  German  element  to  the  rest  is  as  three  to 
eleven,  it  follows  that  if  we  divide  by  that  ratio  it  would  give  to  the  German 
element  at  least  $1,217,068,656.  I  have  no  doubt  in  my  mind  that  actually  the 
share  is  a  great  deal  more.  And  when  we  reflect  that  unquestionably  the  German 
element  is  proportionably  more  productive,  and  at  the  same  time,  more  saving 
and  less  expensive,  we  feel  certain  that  in  the  net  result  a  larger  amount  might 
justly  have  been  ascribed  to  this  element.  But  we  may  as  well  admit  first  as  last, 
that  exact  ascertainment  is  neither  possible  nor  necessary.  The  point  of  the 
matter  is,  any  way,  not  dollars  and  cents. 

The  statement  offers  on  first  glance  only  a  bird's-eye  view;  but  if  we  'draw 
also  facts  into  consideration,  which  we  know  without  the  census,  and  our  views 
widen,  and  closer  insight  takes  place;  because  we  then  see  that  the  sum  total  is 
really  more,  because  assessments  of  value,  for  purpose  of  taxation,  give  smaller . 


IO6  REPORT    OF    THE   COMMISSIONERS   OF   THE 


figures  than  those  current  in  trade,  and  moreover  the  whole  of  property  is  never 
listed.  We  know  also  that  there  are  discrepancies  in  reference  to  individual 
listings,  but  not  as  to  the  several  classes  of  society.  The  production,  consumption 
and  distribution  of  wealth  has  here  an  equality  not  occurring  in  other  countries, 
because  there  are  here  social  equations  that  work  quicker,  sharper  and  stronger 
than  elsewhere.  This  was,  indeed,  still  more  the  case  formerly,  tecause  at  the 
beginning  there  was  more  social  equality  than  now.  And  social  inequalities  ex 
isted  in  fewer  instances. 

Free  immigration  caused  in  itself  equations,  because,  before  emigrating,  in 
dividuals  ask  themselves  whether  they  are  able  to  cope  with  others.  Free  immi 
gration  goes  to  places  where  they  meet  equals — not  superiors.  The  equations 
that  follow  here  must  not  be  forgotten.  They  consist  in  mutual  rectifications,  or, 
respectively,  in  abandonments  of  defects  and  errors.  We  say  "mutual,"  because 
it  is  a  fatal  error  for  any  element  of  American  society  to  assume  that  one  part 
of  it  needs  all  the  correction,  and  that  the  other  does  all  the  correcting.  You 
need  but  to  open  your  eyes  to  see  the  mutuality  that  is  needed  and  progressing 
here. 

Two  contrasts  present  themselves  now  irrepressibly  to  our  view  in  the  state 
ment  submitted,  namely : 

1.  The  Northwest  of  1788,  without  a  people,  and  without  public  or  private 
wealth,  in  our  sense  of  these  words. 

2.  The  Northwest  of  1888,  with  eleven  million  of  population,  with  four 
thousand  millions  of  private  wealth  ;  the  public  wealth  not  being  taken  into 
account. 

These  contrasts  cause  our  minds  to  swarm  with  indefinite  reflections.  We 
come  to  realities,  however,  and  see  that  the  sums  are  the  net  products  of  life- 
giving  and  acquisition — forming  human  capacities,  represent,  after  a  centennial 
struggle  with  geographical,  climatic,  social  and  individual  conflicts,  the  given  net 
result.  "Net"  means,  that  the  cost  and  the  losses  incurred  are  deducted,  i.  e., 
covered.  We  know  well  that  if  these  were  given,  the  total  sum  in  human  life 
and  wealth  would  be  larger  than  the  net  result  given.  It  was  not  only  a  life  of 
joy  or  a  series  of  work  and  doing  good ;  but  there  were  also  crimes,  faults,  wants, 
injustice,  waste  and  destruction.  It  was  a  struggle  between  culture  and  the  op 
posite.  So,  too,  between  civilization,  and  decivilization,  intelligence  and  stupid 
ity,  industry  with  laxness,  and  virtue  with  vice,  in  which,  however,  the  first 
named  conquered ;  at  least  they  exhibit  the  net  result  on  their  side,  which  we 
have  shown. 

I  believe  there  ought  to  have  been  from  the -first  a  close  enumeration  of  immi 
grants,  and  they  classified.  There  might  have  been  also  continuous  lists  of 
births  and  descent,  but  I  know,  toe,  that  such  statistics  were  over-noted  only 
exceptionally.  I  cannot,  therefore,  give  you  in  numbers  or  otherwise,  specifically, 
the  part  which  the  German  bore  in  this  struggling  and  battling.  And  conse 
quently  my  recollections  of  a  fifty-six  years'  residence  must  eke  out  to  some  extent 
our  information  ;  but  what  can  they  furnish  ?  Again,  no  more  than  general  de- 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION. 


ductions,  and  yet  we  believe  in  them,  and  therefore  say  frankly :  None  of  the 
populatory  elements  have  any  great  cause  to  self-elevate  themselves  and  to  traduce 
others.  I  have  refrained  from  every  exaggeration  in  favor  of  the  Germans,  but 
true  it  is  at  last — they  have  not  only  done  their  part,  but  a  good  deal  more.  It 
is  a  good  old  proverb  that  says : 

"  What's  fair  for  the  one  is  proper  for  the  other." 

And  here,  it  must  be  said,  there  were  very  few  that  did  not,  of  their  own 
will  and  accord,  enhance  their  capacities.  But  there  were,  at  the  same  time,  also 
very  few  whom  the  totality  did  not  assist.  There  was  ever  not  only  the  laboring 
of  single  individuals,  but  also  the  reaction  of  the  totality  on  the  parts.  If,  then, 
we  took,  for  solving  our  lesson,  the  per  capita  enumeration  and  calculation,  we 
come,  after  all,  nearer  to  the  exact  truth  than  if  we  had  taken  special  results  and 
added  them  together. 

No  part  of  the  Northwest  created  or  earned  over  a  definite  part  of  the  im 
mense  wealth  gathered  in  it,  because  there  always  existed  an  efficient  co-operation 
and  an  intimate  mutuality,  which  made  every  separating  enumeiation  an  injustice. 
Naming  and  praising  those  who  become  specially  rich,  would  be  unfair,  because 
the  rise  in  the  price  of  real  estate  has  caused  most  of  "tie  respective  riches;  after 
all,  then,  this  rise  is,  in  the  main,  the  producFof  the  rapid  increase  in  population 
caused  by  immigration.  The  treatment  of  our  task,  upon  general  data,  is  there 
fore  the  truest  way  of  reaching  conclusions  as  to  that  historic  development  of  our 
land  and  people,  which  are  so  intimately  blended  that  it  may  be  said,  in  all  fair 
ness,  every  praise  of_  a  part  of  a  population  is  a  praise  of  all ;  and  so,  too,  that 
all  censure  on  a  part  reflects  on  every  portion  of  society. 

It  will  most  likely  vex  those  who  think  themselves  curtailed  when  they  thus 
disappear  personally,  in  a  general  account;  but  such  I  must  remind  that  this 
kind  of  personal  disappearance  is  the  mark  of  free  immigration  from  the  begin 
ning.  Yea,  I  must  ask,  is  not  this  the  very  common  fate  of  all  social  co-opera 
tion  ?  Indeed,  of  all  human  interaction  ?  The  poet  says  : 

"The  lot  that  falls  to  all, 
Must  be  the  best  for  all." 

To  my  sorrow  I  have  to  state :  There  have  been  in  the  United  States  many 
folks  that  have  claimed  for  their  States  and  people  special  excellencies  in  the 
conduct  of  public  affairs  and  the  introduction  of  reform.  But  neither  Virginia 
nor  New  England  have  succeeded  in  this  for  any  length  of  time ;  and  this  is  so 
for  the  simple  reason  that  there  is  ever  going  on  here  a  social  metamorphosis  that 
seems  both  innumerable  and  unaccountable.  In  that  continued  social  metamor 
phosis  are  generated  the  great  political  eventualities  which,  to  have  shared  in, 
brings  the  laurels  to  ambition.  There  is  rarely  any  real  reason  to  be  personally 


108  REPORT   OF   THE   COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


proud  of  them.  The  glory  is  evanescent,  and  the  whole  swallows  at  last  all  the 
parts.  We  German-Americans  may  be  glad  that  it  is  so,  for  it  protects  us  against 
various  tyrannies  that  would  plague  us,  if  the  true-hearted  elements  of  our  people 
would  allow  those  petty  self-adulations  to  become  permanent  national  failings. 

Let  us  then  cling  to  the  clear  perception  to  which  our  inquiries  point  so 
sharply,  to  wit :  That  the  settlement  and  development  of  the  Northwest  had  a 
better  concourse,  because  its  people  formed  itself  under  free  immigration,  than 
would  have  been  the  case  if  it  had  been  framed  together  under  some  political  or 
religious  supremacy  and  their  politics.  You  will  allow  me  now,  I  hope,  a  few 
closing  words. 

It  was  the  purpose  of  my  address  that  you  should,  by  discussing  one  side  of 
the  cause  to  which  your  festivities  are  devoted,  learn  what  was  really  the  matter 
in  1788,  and  to  point  out  to  you  what  measures  contributed  most  to  the  solution 
of  the  then  prevailing  distraction.  This,  my  aim,  was  contained  in  the  theme 
prescribed.  TJie..Gejrjnans,  whose  part  in  the  settlement  and  development  of  _the 
No_rthwest_I_was_to_find  and  state,  were  immigrants.  That  they  came  into  the 
country  was  their  first  contribution  to  the  settlement ;  that  they  came  free  the 
pre-condition  of  their  being  made  citizens,  and  their  chiefjnerit^  afterwards,  was 
their  complete  devotion  to  their  adopted  country.  But  it  was  also  a  merit  in 
their  predecessors,  the  resident  population,  that  they  facilitated  this,  their  devo 
tion,  by  advances  towards  them,  by  co-operation  and  mutual  enhancement  of 
their  existence  ;  for  thereby  have  been  developed  the  States,  their  people,  the 
farms,  the  workshops,  factories  and  institutions  of  every  nature  and  description  ; 
and  it  was  an  honorable  thought  in  your  committee  of  arrangements  that  it 
wanted  these  circumstances  searched  out  and  publicly  discussed.  Whether  I 
have  answered  their  wishes  I  leave  to  your  judgment. 

And  now,  I  have  a  wish  to  express.  It  is  that  we  should  fully  understand 
that  the  cement  that  held  the  Northwest  since  1788  together  for  its  steady  devel 
opment  and  strengthened  it,  must  also  in  the  future  be  the  cement  for  securing 
its  permanent  welfare.  It_is  no  other  than  jhe  feel ingj of  belonging  together, 
and  of  co-operation,  which  the  history  of  the  past  century  tenxiers  its  successor. 
May  this  century  transmit  it  to  its  successors,  and  so  on  forever.  [Applause.] 


Music  was  then  rendered  by  the  Elgin  Band. 
Hon.  John  Strecker,  presiding  officer,  in  introducing  Judge 
Cassody,  of  Supreme  Court  of  Wisconsin,  then  said  : 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  now  have  the  honor  of  introduc 
ing  to  you,  Judge  Cassody,  of  Wisconsin. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION 


/\ddress   of  cl.   B.   Gassody, 

JUDGE  SUPREME  COURT  WISCONSIN. 


GENTLEMEN — LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  Out  of  great  respect  for  you  and 
for  this  grand  historic  occasion,  and  for  the  State  from  which  I  hail,  I  will  now, 
by  way  of  introduction,  read  as  well  as  I  can  what  I  have  written  as  well  as  I 
could. 

Aside  from  Minnesota,  taken  in  part  from  the  Louisiana  purchase,  and  which 
in  other  respects  is  every  way  worthy  to  be  here  represented,  Wisconsin  is  much 
the  youngest  of  that  galaxy  of  States  carved  out  of  the  old  Northwest  Territory. 
The  least,  in  more  respects  than  one,  of  that  body  of  men,  of  which  I  have  the 
honor  to  be  a  member,  I  may,  nevertheless,  venture  to  assert,  what  impartial  his 
tory  must  proclaim,  that  in  humane  and  practical  charity,  in  education  and  all 
that  goes  to  make  up  a  broad  and  cosmopolitan  citizenship,  in  patriotic  devotion 
to  our  common  country,  in  sacred  regard  for  that  long  line  of  events  which  finally 
terminated  in  the  best  republic  ever  devised  by  man,  in  veneration  for  the  great 
men  and  noble  women  who,  under  the  providence  of  God,  contributed  to  this 
grand  consummation. 

Wisconsin  is  entitled  to  high  rank  in  the  sisterhood  of  States,  and  under 
her  motto  of  "  forward,"  expects  to  improve.  Standing  here  at  Marietta — named 
in  honor  of  Marie  Antoinette,  then  the  distinguished  Queen  of  France,  where,  a 
hundred  years  ago,  civil  government  was  first  established  under  the  authority  of 
the  old  "  Continental  Congress,"  in  this  Northwestern  Territory,  now  teeming 
with  fourteen  millions  of  inhabitants,  engaged  in  agriculture,  manufacture,  com 
merce  and  nearly  all  varieties  of  industry,  with  a  wealth  of  learning,  culture  and 
property  never  before  developed  in  so  short  a  time  from  such  humble  resources, 
we  can  but  contemplate  with  deep  emotions  the  infant  Territorial  Government, 
as  it  started,  and  with  the  ordinance  of  1787,  under  the  National  constitution, 
ratified  by  the  requisite  number  of  States  within  a  month  before,  as  its  fundamen 
tal  charter  and  guidance. 

Turning  to  that  ordinance,  it  is  pleasant  to  observe  a  tender  solicitude  for 
the  education  of  the  young,  the  preservation  of  judicial  proceedings  according 
to  the  course  of  the  common  law,  the  maintainance  of  the  integrity  of  contracts, 
the  protection  of  the  individual  right  to  liberty,  property  and  peaceful  worship, 
and  the  free  navigation  of  the  waters  leading  into  the  Mississippi  and  the  St. 
Lawrence  without  any  tax,  import  or  duty. 

These  great  principles  have,  by  constitutional  provisions  or  enabling  acts 
and  acts  for  the  admission  of  States,  since  become  the  fundamental  law,  not  only 


IIO  REPORT   OF   THE    COMMISSIONERS   OF   THE 


in  the  five  States  here  represented,  but  in  others.  These  things  naturally 
awaken  a  sense  of  gratitude  toward  old  Virginia,  for  the  generous  cession  of  this 
vast  territory,  and  then  for  the  magnanimous  ratification  of  the  ordinance.  They, 
moreover,  in  this  centennial  year  of  our  national  existence,  generate  a  spirit  of 
veneration  for  the  wise  statesmen  who  gave  us  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
the  old  articles  of  Confederation,  the  ordinance  itself,  and  finally  that  grandest, 
practical  conception  of  a  nationality  consistent  with  home  rule — our  Federal 
Constitution — hallowed  by  its  beneficent  amendments. 

Some  may  deprecate  the  extremists  who  favored  a  more  consolidated  nation 
ality,  and  others  the  extermists  who  favored  a  weaker  form  of  government 
— more  like  the  old  league  of  sovereign  States,  but  each  class  was  essential 
to  expose  the  evil  tendencies  of  the  other  and  exalt  the  virtues  of  its  own  theories 
and  thus  enable  the  cool  heads,  with  clear  perceptions,  broad  comprehensions, 
nd  sound  judgments,  like  Washington,  the  father  of  his  country,  Franklin,  the  po 
litical  philosopher  of  the  time,  and  James  Madison,  aptly  called  the  father  of  the 
Constitution,  to  evolve  from  the  heated  discussions  thus  engendered,  that  golden 
mean  which  secured  national  strength  and  efficiency  on  a  representative  basis, 
without  materially  impairing  the  sovereignty  of  the  States  in  local  affairs,  except 
in  so  far  as  then  and  since,  deemed  essential  to  protect  the  person  and  property 
of  the  individual  from  unjust  and  imperious  interference. 

As  we  contemplate  old  Virginia  and  our  fundamental  law,  we  necessarily 
behold  the  majestic  form  of  that  pre-eminent  constitutional  lawyer  and  judge, 
John  Marshall,  whose  unanswerable  logic  from  the  bench  was  more  potent  in 
preserving  the  integrity  of  the  Union  than  Virginia's  confederate  troops  in  the 
field  in  attempting  to  destroy  it.  This  being  so,  it  would  seem  to  be  especially 
appropriate  on  this  Centennial  day,  to  balance  the  books  and  shake  hands  over 
the  bloody  chasm.  Tinning  back  from  this  point  of  time,  and  looking  upon  the 
long  train  of  events  which  have  transpired  since  the  early  settlements  upon  our 
Atlantic  shores,  we  cannot  fail  to  behold  the  hand  that  planted  in  the  virgin  soil, 
the  tears  which  watered  ever  and  anon,  the  spirit  which  moved  and  encouraged, 
from  time  to  time,  the  kind  Providence  that  guided  so  tenderly,  the  wisdom 
which  perceived  and  conceived,  the  weakness  and  dependence  which  secured 
humility  and  union,  the  Almighty  power  which  first  established,  and  afterward 
maintained,  not  by  the  mere  sagacity  and  cunning  of  this  man  or  that,  not  by  the 
mere  superior  virtue  of  this  party  or  that,  not  by  some  mere  shifting  chance  or 
blind  fatality ;  but  by  the  watchful  guardianship  and  continued  aid  of  that  Su 
preme  Intelligence  which  pervades  the  universe,  controls  the  planets,  inspires 
men  to  do  His  will  and  do  it  well,  in  order  that  each  crown  may  at  last  be  placed 
where  it  rightfully  belongs.  With  a  patriotism  kindled  by  such  inflatus,  with  a 
charity  broad  enough  to  include  all  true  and  worthy  citizens,  the  Republic  may 
continue  to  progress  in  the  coming  centuries,  as  in  the  past,  until  all  nations 
shall  be  conformed  and  transformed  by  its  superior  glory.  God  grant  that  such 
may  be  the  result.  [Applause.] 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       Ill 

At  the  close  of  his  address,  Judge  Cassody,  as  presiding 
officer,  introduced  Prof.  J.  D.  Butler,  LL.  D.,  representing 
Wisconsin. 

Judge  Cassody :  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  the  State  of 
Wisconsin  will  be  represented  by  a  gentleman  who  was  born 
and  educated  in  New  England,  a  gentleman  not  only  of  exten 
sive  learning  but  extensive  travel  in  the  old  world ;  and  who 
has  resided  and  taught  and  preached  not  only  in  Wisconsin, 
but  previously  in  Indiana  and  here  in  Ohio ;  a  gentleman  who, 
in  historic  lore,  is  more  wealthy  than  any  man  in  the  State. 

I  have  the  honor  of  introducing  to  you  Dr.  J.  D.  Butler, 
of  Madison,  Wisconsin.  [Applause]. 

Address  of  f  rof.  J.  D.  Butler,   LL.  D., 

OF  WISCONSIN. 


Wisconsin  at  the  Marietta   Centennial. 

Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan,  Illinois,  Wisconsin;  we  are  all  one — a  five-fold 
brotherhood — a  Pentadelphia.  Ours  is  a  more  pervasive  unity  that  knits  together 
some  other  groups  of  our  States.  The  names  of  Atlantic  States,  all  save  two, 
came  from  Europe ;  ours  are  all  in  etymology  American. 

Regarding  labor,  land,  law,  liberty,  education,  religion,  our  principles  and 
aspirations  are  well-nigh  identical.  Wisconsin  is  largely  of  the  same  Eastern 
stock  with  her  four  older  sisters,  and  in  1860  one-sixth  as  many  of  her  inhabitants 
had  been  born  on  their  soil  as  on  her  own.  Your  pioneers  were  revolutionary 
soldiers,  ours  were  soldiers  of  the  Black-Hawk  war.  No  middle  wall  of  partition 
divides  our  quintette. 

"  We  grow  together 

Like  to  a  five-fold  cherry,  seeming  parted, 
But  yet  with  union  in  partition ; 
Five  lovely  berries  molded  on  one  stem, 
So  with  five  seeming  bodies  but  one  heart." 


112  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


Last  and  least  in  your  sisterhood  stands  Wisconsin.  In  this  goodly  presence 
she  comes  confessing  that  that  which  is  wanting  in  her  cannot  be  numbered.  She 
needs  a  great  deal  of  coal,  but  she  has  none — no  kerosene,  no  natural  gas,  save 
that  exhaled  from  the  throats  of  demagogues.  She  needs  salt,  and  has  not  one 
grain.  In  both  hog  and  hominy  her  standing  is  low.  In  the  weighty  matters  of 
agriculture,  manufactures,  commerce  and  valuation  she  stands  at  the  foot  of  the 
class.  Her  copper  mining  is  pre-historic.  Her  iron  ores  are  undeveloped  and 
still  of  doubtful  value.  Superior,  her  best  port  on  the  Great  Lake,  is  yet  in 
embryo.  Surpassed  by  three  others  in  steamboats,  it  is  small  credit  to  her  that 
she  surpasses  in  that  craft  Indiana,  which  is  so  poor  in  water-front  of  commercial 
consequence.  In  1880  her  railroad  mileage  was  still  the  shortest  by  753  miles. 
Lumber  is  among  her  greatest  staples,  but  her  output  is  not  half  that  of  Michigan. 
Even  in  lead,  for  which  Yankees  first  entered  her  borders,  her  product  is  far 
below  that  of  Illinois.  She  raises  less  of  her  breadstuffs  than  any  of  you.  If 
she  beats  you  all  in  hops  and  barley — Ohio  produces  more  lager  beer.  She  con 
fesses  to  more  of  illiteracy  than  darkens  Ohio  and  Michigan,  and  that  her  uni 
versity,  though  her  students  are  now  64  per  cent. — cannot  rival  the  national  fame 
of  Ann  Arbor.  Largely  domineered  by  British  fur-traders  for  a  generation  after 
the  Revolution,  she  was  conquered  in  the  war  of  1812  more  completely  than 
Michigan,  and  held  by  the  enemy  to  the  very  close  of  that  contest,  not  without 
hopes  of  retaining  her  forever. 

As  to  population,  while  one  of  you  is  out-ranked  by  only  two  States  of  the 
thirty-eight,  and  the  standing  of  the  lowest  among  you  is  nine,  her's  is  only  six 
teen.  Cities  like  Chicago  and  Cincinnati  are  beyond  her  dreams.  Despairing  of 
such  growths,  she  pretends  that  they  are  as  far  beyond  her  wishes  as  her  hopes. 
Her  creed  is  Jefferson's,  that  great  cities  are  great  sores.  Her  aspiration  is  only 
that  Milwaukee  may  equal  Detroit. 

Against  foreign  invasion  or  domestic  insurrection  Wisconsin  has  less  defense 
than  any  of  you,  her  Northwestern  sisters.  You  all  have  United  States  posts  or 
arsenals.  She  has  none.  Your  national  guards  are  all  stronger  than  hers.  But 
some  of  you  have  called  in'  national  troops  to  help  you  keep  the  peace.  It  is 
our  boast  that  Wisconsin  has  not  been  reduced  to  any  such  necessity. 

Two  years  ago  anarchists  were  rampant  and  unrestrained  for  a  week  in  Illi 
nois,  while  their  rage  in  Milwaukee  was  limited  to  a  single  day.  On  the  morning 
of  their  outbreak  there,  seventeen  companies  of  militia  were  summoned  to  the 
city — some  of  them  distant  136  miles.  Before  nightfall  they  had  all  concentrated 
in  the  focus,  a  rendezvous,  and  bivouaced  through  the  hours  of  darkness  ready  at 
threatened  point  to  repel  assault.  One  whiff  of  bullets  the  next  morning  cowed 
and  quelled  the  hosts  of  anarchism.  At  this  crisis,  our  home-guard,  not  half  so 
numerous  as  that  of  Illinois,  proved  ten  times  as  serviceable.  Governor  Rusk, 
at  the  stamp  of  whose  foot  this  army  sprang  up  out  of  the  earth,  gained  inter 
national  fame,  re-election  by  acclamation,  and  nomination  to  the  National  Presi- 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION. 


dency.     The  military  force,  which  is  large   enough   to  uphold  civil  government, 
cannot  be  too  small. 

Our  experience  with  anarchists  makes  us  sanguine  that  if  the  Latter  Day 
Saints  had  built  Nauvoo  within  our  gates,  we  should  have  cast  them  out  quite  as 
successfully  as  did  the  yeomanry  of  Illinois. 

Our  inferiorities  we  acknowledge  to  be  more  than  the  hairs  of  our  heads.  In 
seeking  apologies  for  them  we  learn  something  from  a  colored  champion  of  Robert 
Small,  the  negro  hero.  This  partisan  had  extolled  Small  as  the  greatest  of  the 
great.  When  asked  if  Small  was  greater  than  Webster,  his  answer  was,  "Yes, 
and  greater,  too,  than  both  Calhoun  and  Clay.  In  fact,  he  was  the  greatest  man 
the  Almighty  ever  made."  Nor  was  he  at  a  loss  what  to  say  when  it  was  urged 
that  Small  was  not  as  great  as  God  Almighty.  While  admitting  the  fact,  he 
turned  the  edge  of  it,  saying,  '*  No  wonder  Small  is  not  so  great  as  the  Almighty, 
for  Small  is  not  so  old — not  yet  so  old  as  his  Maker." 

Whatever  deficiencies  Wisconsin  must  confess,  she  has  a  mantle  to  cover. 
Her  pica  is,  "I  am  not  so  old  as  any  of  you.  I  am  well-nigh  half  a  century 
younger  than  my  oldest  sister,  and  younger  than  the  youngest  by  many  a  year." 
The  years  of  Ohio  are  four  score  and  five,  those  of  Wisconsin  are  barely  two 
score.  The  fourth  State  admitted  into  the  Union  was  Ohio — the  seventeenth 
was  Wisconsin.  As  Burke  said  of  our  forefathers  in  1774:  Wisconsonians  are 
"a  people  yet  in  the  gristle  and  not  yet  hardened  into  the  bone  of  manhood." 

I  therefore  make  the  "  baby  plea"  for  excusing  our  short  comings. 

But,  in  another  point  of  view,  we  claim  to  be  the  oldest  member  of  the  sis 
terhood,  the  first-born  of  all.  One  hundred  years  ago  to-day,  the  French  residents 
at  Green  Bay,  in  Winconsin,  were  probably  as  numerous  as  the  Yankees  then 
gathered  here.  The  names  of  all  the  families,  with  a  census  of  fifty-six  souls,  who 
lived  there  in  the  year  1785,  are  still  preserved.  Twenty  years  before,  Captain 
Carver  saw  some  families  dwelling  in  the  dismantled  fort,  and  others  across  the 
Fox  River,  who  were  cultivating  the  land.  Our  centennial  is  already  past.  Thus,, 
in  the  matter  of  antiquity,  we  delve  a  yard  below  your  mines,  and  blow  you  to 
the  moon. 

Nor  is  this  all.  Ohioans  are  content  to  claim  one  century  of  existence — we 
can  boast  of  more  than  two.  The  mission  in  our  La  Pointe  dates  from  1660. 
Another  was  established  at  Green  Bay  in  1670.  Here  Marquette,  who  had  long 
labored  near  La  Pointe,  in  1673  came  among  brethren  who  could  already  show 
3,000  converts,  and  were  still  evangelizing.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  Jesuits  re 
claimed  some  Indians  from  a  wandering  life,  induced  them  to  work  as  mechanics, 
and  to  raise  corn  enough  in  a  single  harvest  for  three  years'  food.  Here,  they 
introduced  as  soon  'as  possible,  fowls,  sheep  and  swine.  They  erected  block 
houses  and  chapels  fitted  for  spectacular  display.  Here,  their  employes  traded 
in  furs  and  held  the  key  of  the  beaver  country  even  before  LaSalle  started  down 

8  C.  B. 


114  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


In  the  treatment  of  the  insane  we  have,  as  we  hope,  taken  a  step  in  advance 
of  our  older  sisters.  Half  of  those  unfortunates  are  now  cared  for,  not  in  enor 
mous  State  palaces,  but  in  county  hospitals,  each  receiving  less  than  a  hundred 
patients.  The  expense  is  half — the  humanity  double.  Ample  room,  "  far  from 
the  maddening  crowd,"  is  furnished  for  farm  work.  There  is  none  of  that  com 
pulsory  idleness  which  make  a  wise  man  mad.  A  majority  work  with  a  will. 
They  return  from  the  field  at  evening  to  sit  down  clothed  and  in  their  right  mind. 

Their  hearts  throw  off  their  burdens.  No  restrain  of  walls  and  locks  • 
still  less  is  personal  confinement  needed.  All  our  deranged  are  in  houses  of 
comfort  and  hope.  In  no  jail,  in  no  poor-house  can  one  be  found. 

It  may  be  worth  adding,  that  as  to  the  inmates  of  every  variety  in  alms 
houses  and  prisons,  the  Wisconsin  percentage  is  smaller  than  that  in  any  one  of 
her  Northwestern  neighbors. 

After  all,  Wisconsin  remains  insignificant  among  the  tribes  of  our  North 
western  Israel.  This  confession,  however,  would  not  need  to  be  made,  had  she 
not  been  robbed  of  half  of  her  territory.  The  ordinance,  which  is  our  magna 
charta,  prescribed  as  her  southern  boundary,  a  line  drawn  east  and  west  through 
the  southerly  bend,  or  extreme  of  Lake  Michigan.  Had  the  ordinance  been 
obeyed,  Wisconsin  would  to-day  hold  ten  northern  counties  of  Illinois,  including 
Chicago.  These  prairies,  and  the  site  of  the  Central  Queen  City,  our  birth-right, 
were  taken  from  us,  and  not  even  a  mess  of  pottage  was  given  us  in  return. 
Thus  usurping  Illinois  "  came  cranking  in  and  cut  us  from  the  best  of  all  our 
land,  a  huge  half-moon,  a  monstrous  cantling  out."  We  felt  like  France 
despoiled  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine. 

Next,  Ohio  and  Michigan  fell  into  a  wrangle  about  the  swamps  around 
Toledo.  From  words  they  would  have  come  to  blows,  had  not  Congress,  which 
had  given  them  contradictory  boundaries,  reconciled  the  belligerents  at  the  ex 
pense  of  Wisconsin.  The  pacificator  learned  his  art  from  the  fox  who,  when 
called  as  a  doctor  to  cure  the  lion's  wounded  side,  prescribed  a  plaster  of  skin 
torn  from  the  back  of  the  bear.  The  Congressional  bidding  to  Wolverines,  ex 
asperated  by  Ohio  encroachments  on  one  of  their  counties,  was  "  Help  yourselves 
to  whatever  you  like  of  Wisconsin  wealth."  On  this  hint,  they  made  spoil  of 
the  Upper  Peninsula,  a  tract  larger  than  Massachusetts,  and  full  of  the  best 
mines  in  the  world  of  iron  and  copper. 

Yet  again,  the  Wisconsin  settlers  beyond  the  St.  Croix  were  beguiled  into 
secession,  revolted  to  Minnesota,  and  carried  off  with  them  twice  as  much  of  our 
territory  as  had  glutted  both  Illinois  and  Michigan.  When  Wisconsin,  thus  "put 
into  circumscription  and  confine,"  sees  her  superiors,  exulting  in  strategic  points 
— giving  them  the  mastery  of  agriculture,  commerce,  manufactures,  and  building 
up  magic  cities,  with  cloud-capped  towers  and  gorgeous  palaces,  rising  as  if  at  a 
stroke  of  an  enchanter's  wand,  her  feeling  must  be  :  "This  is  all  thunder,  my 
thunder." 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       115 


"  Redress  my  wrongs,"  she  must  exclaim,  "  Re-establish  my  boundaries  as 
fixed  by  the  great  ordinance,  forever  unalterable  unless  by  mutual  consent.  A 
consent  that  I  never  gave.  Reverse  the  Poland-like  partitions  of  my  domains. 
Give  me  back  my  northern  peninsula,  my  southern  double-tier  of  prairie  counties 
culminating  in  Chicago,  and  my  northwestern  paradise  of  lumber  and  wheat  with 
the  port  of  Duluth  on  the  east,  and  on  the  west  the  only  rival  Minneapolis  can 
ever  fear.  Then  shall  I  not  only  stand  at  the  head  of  our  quintette  in  area,  popu 
lation,  iron-ways  and  water-ways,  but  shall  become  the  largest  in  territory  of  all 
States  this  side  of  the  Rockies,  save  one,  'a  giant  of  mighty  bone  and  bold 
emprise.'  " 

This  is  a  day  for  looking  forward  as  well  as  backward.  In  the  future  as  well 
as  in  the  past,  our  weal  and  woe  must  largely  depend  on  the  fortunes  of  the 
Great  Republic,  and  still  more  largely  on  our  five-fold  fortunes — five  linked  in 
one,  by  lakes,  rivers,  streets  of  steel,  propinquity,  proclivity,  origin  and  aspira 
tions. 

In  our  Northwest  the  foreign  element  is  above  the  average  of  the  country  by 
about  four  per  cent.  We  are  thus  differentiated  from  some  other  State  groups. 
Moreo-ver,  in  this  particular,  Wisconsin  is  most  decidedly  differentiated  from  her 
four  older  sisters.  In  your  limits  the  foreign-born  are  less  than  twenty  to  each 
one  hundred  natives;  in  Wisconsin  they  are  more  than  forty-four.  Of  your  voters 
the  native-born  are  more  by  a  million  than  those  of  foreign  birth,  while  her  for 
eign  voters  out-number  the  natives  by  forty  thousand. 

In  looking  at  the  Wisconsin  make-up  we  observe  a  peculiar  gathering  of  all 
the  races  which  Babel  scattered.  Heterogeneity  is  her  cardinal  characteristic. 
Accordingly  the  influences  of  heterogeneity  must  not  be  overlooked  by  any  one 
who  would  forecast  her  future. 

Nor  is  the  foreign  element  anywhere  in  our  country  so  small  that  it  can  fail 
to  waken  interest. 

In  all  departments  of  life  the  more  variable  the  elements  the  more  valuable. 
The  greater  the  number  of  elementary  rocks  the  more  fertile,  geologists  -tell  us, 
will  be  the  soil.  The  overflow  of  the  Nile  fertilizes  because  it  spreads  over  Egypt 
a  richness  for  which  a  score  of  lands  have  been  taxed.  Crossing  in-breeds  im 
prove  cattle,  cross-fertilization  adds  vigor  to  flowers.  Everywhere  the  hetero 
geneous  is  the  main-spring  of  improvement.  The  greater  the  chaos  the  better 
the  cosmos.  Hennepin,  the  first  white  man  whom  we  know  to  have  reached  the 
upper  Mississippi,  believed  in  heterogeneity.  He  carried  with  him  what  he 
called  a  "thoriac,"  considered  a  sure  cure  for  all  the  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to,  be 
cause  it  was  a  panacea  compounded  of  not  less  than  threescore  and  four  simples — 
as  honey  is  concentrated  from  a  vast  variety  of  flowers.  On  the  same  principle — 
that  the  secret  of  strength  lies  in  massing  dissimilar  ingredients,  MacBeth's 
witches  threw  into  their  caldron, 

Eye  of  newt  and  toe  of  frog, 
Wool  of  bat  and  tongue  of  dog, 
Adder's  fork  and  blind  worm's  sting, 
Lizard's  leg  and  owlet's  wing, 


Il6  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


and  many  more  things  than  my  memory  can  retain.  They  thus  distilled  their 
hell  broth  and  raised  it  to  the  highest  power  of  hellishness  and  heterogeneousness. 
Working  in  the  same  line  of  diversification,  the  cooks  of  ancient  Athens 
contrived  a  hotch-potch,  which  they  called  the  Jurrado  T£fj.a%o  dslayo  yoiteo 
Apavao  AevVavo  dpufj.fj.uro  Tpurj.fj.a~o  auX<puo  xapao  fj,s/.UTO  AaraAe^ufj-s^o 
o  ff(parro  TtspuffTspa  XsKrpuo  A'-sA'yaAo  -i/.uola  fu>opupato 


This  name  of  seventy-nine  syllables  is  long,  but  it  could  not  be  any  shorter, 
because  it  incorporates  in  its  single  self  all  the  dainties  of  which  the  classic  hash 
was  composed.  Forming  this  name  perfected  the  Greek  language,  and  eating  of 
the  conglomeration  raised  the  Greek  genius  to  a  pitch  of  excellence  unknown 
either  before  or  since. 

But,  to  speak  seriously,  the  leading  nations  of  the  world  have  been]formed 
by  fusion  of  races.  Thus,  says  Galton,  "of  the  Greek  tribes  that  of  Attica  was 
the  ablest,  and  she  was,  no  doubt,  largely  indebted  for  her  superiority  to  opening 
her  arms  to  immigrants.  In  her  best  days  the  resident  aliens,  in  proportion  to 
free-born  natives,  were  as  four  to  nine.  So  she  built  up  a  magnificent  breed  of 
human  animals,  and  in  one  century  turned  out  fourteen  men  who  must  be  counted 
superior  to  any  equal  number  who  have  appeared  within  an  equal  period  in  any 
country."  He  adds,  that  in  all  countries  a  large  proportion  of  eminent  men  bear 
foreign  names,  and  are  descendants  of  foreign  refugees. 

The  greatest  men  have  appeared  where  there  has  been  a  fusion  of  races.  "It 
is  not  without  significance,"  says  the  historian  Greene,  "  that  the  highest  type  of 
the  race,  Shakespeare,  the  one  Englishman  who  has  combined  in  the  largest 
measure  the  nobility  and  fancy  of  the  Celt  with  the  depth  and  energy  of  the 
Teutonic  temper  —  (the  best  qualities  of  the  two  best  races  represented  in  the 
blood  and  history  of  the  English  nation)  was  born  on  the  old  Welsh  and  English 
border  land  in  the  forest  of  Arden.  .  His  mother's  family  represented  the  union 
of  the  two  great  race  elements  which  have  gone  to  the  making  of  the  typical 
Englishman." 

No  race  has  made  its  way  in  the  world  better  than  New  Englanders.  If 
they  were  a  genus  by  themselves,  I  could  not  believe  mingled  peoples  to  be  a 
better  stock  than  the  untningled.  But  who  are  New  Englanders  ?  Of  the  hun 
dred  May  Flower  Pilgrims,  not  five  can  be  traced  to  any  single  shire,  so  it  was 
early  proverbial  that  "God  had  sifted  a  whole  nation  that  he  might  send  choice 
grain  into  the  wilderness."  More  than  this.  Among  the  first  comers,  it  is  on 
record  that  Terry  was  a  Frenchman,  Margeson  a  Hollander,  Mrs.  Cooke  and 
Priscilla  Mullins,  Walloons.  Mitchell  a  Scot,  Rand  and  Coner  Germans,  were 
among  the  next  arrivals.  Many  others  of  the  earliest  names  are  not  English  ; 
some  were  Welsh  and  Irish  ;  more  were  French  and  Dutch.  Massachusetts  was 
as  heterogeneous  as  Plymouth,  and  both  of  them,  so  far  as  English,  were  off 
shoots  from  the  most  composite  nationality  in  Europe.  On  the  whole,  the  New 
England  fountain-head  was  more  than  tinctured  from  outlandish  springs. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION. 


In  several  points  of  view,  our  heterogeneous  population  is  a  hopeful  sign. 
It  seems  so  when  we  consider  that  some  fraction  of  the  world's  progress  has  been 
contributed  by  every  corner  of  the  world,  and  that,  too,  often  coming  from  a 
quarter  where  we  should  look  for  such  light  last  and  least. 

In  swimming,  mountaineering,  Arctic  exploration,  hunting,  boat-building, 
tent-making,  tire-kindling,  and  certain  other  arts,  the  civilized  still  learn  of  the 
savage. 

What  science,  what  art  has  been  anywhere  altogether  of  home  growth  ? 
Long  before  Paul  said  it,  every  man  felt  that  the  head  cannot  say  to  the  foot,  "I 
have  no  need  of  thee." 

The  truth  is,  each  race  has  a  forte  which  it  delights  to  exercise,  even  as  it  is 
joy  to  the  just  to  do  judgment.  Hence,  each  follows  its  own  divergent  proclivi 
ties.  Now  diversified  industries  are  essential  to  the  well-being  of  a  State.  The 
more  diversified  our  population,  the  more  diversified  our  industry  will  become, 
each  race  being  apt  to  make  the  most  of  its  own  aptitudes.  In  the  ranks  of 
Grant's  army,  that  General  met  with  men  responsive  to  every  call,  up  to  every 
thing,  down  to  everything.  Much  more  in  the  nationalities  from  which  that 
army  was  recruited,  must  there  lie  germs  capable  of  multitudinous  expansions, 
The  outcome  is  genial  correlations,  and  advantageous  variations, many  members — 
one  body,  one  whole  body,  fifty  framed  together  and  compacted  by  that  which 
every  joint  supplieth  according  to  the  effectual  working  of  every  part. 

A  large  class  of  incomers  have  been  brought  hither  by  aspirations  for  broader 
fields  of  activity.  Men  of  this  stamp  among  educators  were  Agassiz  and  McCosh  ; 
among  divines,  Whitfield  and  John  Hail ;  among  statesmen,  Hamilton  and  Gal- 
latin  ;  among  soldiers,  Montgomery  and  Steuben,  with  hosts  in  our  civil  war; 
among  railroad  kings,  Alexander  Mitchell ;  among  manufacturers,  Slater  ;  further 
off,  power-loom,  weaving  in  the  last  century,  John  Roach,  with  Carnegie,  our 
Pittsburgh  Vulcan,  representing  more  recent  arrivals.  Each  of  these  candles, 
that  elsewhere  would  have  been  hid  under  a  bushel,  has  been  here  set  on  a 
candle-stick. 

What  was  tendency  when  pent  up  in  the  nurseries  of  the  old  world,  became 
effect  and  accomplishment  in  the  wide  expanse  of  the  new. 

"  In  the  old  half  appeared 

The  tawny  lion  pawing  to  get  free. 
Here  springs  as  broke  from  bonds, 

And  rampant  shakes  his  brindled  mane." 

It  has  hence  become  proverbial  that  newest  inventions  stand  the  best  chance- 
to  get  tried  in  the  newest  States.  Visionary  bubbles,  however,  burst  when  free 
to  explode  themselves,  and  to  clash  with  sounder  views.  Thus,  Nordhoff  has 
filled  a  volume  with  obituaries  of  communistic  failures — each  of  the  new  legioa 
a  new  proof  that  if  you  give  a  fool  Aplenty  of  rope  he  will  hang  himself. 


Il8  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


Our  national  diversities  tend  to  testing  innovations  more  thoroughly.  As  to 
courts,  it  is  agreed  that  justice  is  the  more  sure  to  be  secured  the  more  ably  each 
side  of  the  case  is  argued  by  opposing  counsel.  In  government,  likewise,  our 
ideal  is  a  strong  administration — and  a  strong  opposition.  On  a  similar  principle, 
every  innovation,  having  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  a  dozen  races  before  it  can  be 
recognized  as  an  improvement,  we  have  safeguards  against  precipitate  reforms. 
It  is  often  said  that  what  English  and  French  both  hold  to  must  be  true  This 
saying  has  sense,  and  it  must  be  doubly  significant  concerning  what  polyglot 
Americans  accept. 

We  have  also  safeguards  against  ultra-conservatism,  inasmuch  as  changes 
have  attractions  for  one  race  that  have  none  for  others.  Hence,  every  new  idea 
is  sure  of  a  hearing  in  some  quarter.  When  one  race  turns  it  out  of  doors, 
another  will  show  it  hospitality.  Accordingly,  no  talent  lies  buried  in  the  earth 
or  hid  in  a  napkin,  and  yet  the  man  who  mistakes  his  napkin  for  a  talent,  and 
flirts  it  in  every  one's  face,  is  cured  of  his  self-conceited  delusion. 

Our  all-embracing  hospitality  was  typified  by  the  net  that  was  cast  into  the 
sea  and  gathered  of  every  kind,  which,  when  it  was  full,  they  drew  to  shore,  and 
sat  down  and  gathered  the  good  into  vessels,  but  cast  the  bad  away.  We  have 
thus  doubled  the  old  world's  chances  for  a  new  slart  in  development.  Thanks 
to  us,  that  hemisphere  can  repeat  the  strategy  of  the  naval  hero  of  Lake  Erie, 
and  that  with  results  no  less  triumphant.  Perry's  flag-ship  had  become  a  wreck, 
and  all  on  board  but  eighteen  were  dead  or  disabled.  Then  the  commodore, 
darting  in  a  skiff  to  the  Niagara,  shifted  his  flag  to  that  vessel.  By  this  new  de 
parture  and  change  of  base  he  turned  defeat  into  victory. 

What  if  some  of  the  fugitives  who  come  to  our  asylum  are  of  a  worthless 
and  disreputable  class?  These  unfortunates  are  more  likely  here  than  elsewhere 
to  improve.  There  is  use  here  for  what  has  elsewhere  been  refuse.  The  lazy  are 
roused  to  labor  by  the  many  calls  for  it,  and  by  the  greater  gains  it  will  here  bring 
in.  "  The  blood  more  stirs  to  rouse  a  lion  than  to  start  a  hare."  Those  who 
have  failed  abroad  and  so  lost  hope  there,  are  inspirited  to  new  efforts  by  new 
surroundings.  The  best  of  all  is  that  a  goodly  number  of  those  who  have  fallen 
into  crime  will  quit  the  way  of  transgressors  when  they  have  escaped  from  their 
antecedents,  and  see  a  chance  to  enter  a  more  excellent  path. 

Men  worth  saving  may  reform.  This  encouraging  truth  is  demonstrated  by 
the  development  in  Australia  of  respectable  states  out  of  convict  colonies — like 
water-lillies,  the  perfection  of  purity  and  fragrance — born  out  of  the  mid  of  a 
marsh.  In  1788 — the  Marietta  birth-year — 757  felons  were  the  pilgrim  fathers 
and  mothers  of  New  South  Wales.  For  seventy-two  years  afterward  the  same 
class  of  colonists  was  deported  from  Great  Britain  to  Australia.  They  were  more 
than  70,000  strong.  Not  only  their  posterity,  but  some  of  these  outcasts  them 
selves  have  risen  so  high  that  they  have  repeated  the  miracle  of  Mazeppa : 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION. 


"  Sent  forth  to  the  wilderness, 

/  Bound,  naked,  bleeding  and  alone, 

To  cross  the  desert  to  a  throne." 

Australia,  on  the  whole,  now  stands  in  every  desiiable  element — in  havings 
and  hopes — as  high  as  the  British  North  American  provinces  had  risen  in  1776. 
The  British  themselves  now  say  that  as  the  great  event  of  their  history  in  the 
eighteenth  century  was  the  loss  of  the  United  States,  so  their  great  event  of  the 
nineteenth  century  is  the  growth  of  Australia.  So  with  us,  under  new  heavens, 
and  on  a  new  earth,  men  worth  saving  become  new  men — regenerated. 

Our  composite  nationality  is  all  the  better  because  it  is  polyglot.  In  every 
system  of  liberal  education  a  large  section  consists  in  the  study  of  foreign 
tongues.  That  every  new  language  a  man  acquires  adds  to  him  a  new  man,  was 
a  saying  often  in  the  mouth  of  that  wisest  of  German  Emperors,  Charles  V.  Before 
that  monarch  was  born,  however,  the  maxim  had  become  proverbial.  We  have 
it  in  the  medieval  rhyming  couplet, 

"  Quot  linguas  calles,  Tot  homines  vales." 

But  in  mastering  our  vernacular,  three  millions  of  our  number  have  made 
their  own,  much  of  the  culture  which  linguistic  study  is  able  to  minister,  and  as 
many  millions  more  are  now  treading  the  same  educative  path  to  the  same  en 
viable  improvement. 

"  Discourse  in  ten  tongues  if  you  can  ; 
I  reckon  you  ten  times  a  man." 

Something  international,  you  perceive,  in  the  house ;  and,  by  the  way,  in 
every  shop,, and  well-nigh  every  man.  The  Scarians,  a  knot  of  French  Commu 
nists,  when  I  visited  them  in  Iowa  but  a  few  years  after  they  came  over,  had 
sloughed  off  half  their  French  element  to  mix  with  other  people's,  and  had  ad- 
mitted  among  them  Spaniards,  Germans  and  Yankees. 

Every  race  being  diffused  everywhere,  one  result  is  the  weakening  of  inter 
national  prejudices.  It  is  said  of  the  English  by  one  of  themselves,  that  they 
hold  all  foreigners  in  contempt  unless  they  have  been  dead  a  long  time,Jike 
Homer  or  Virgil,  or  unless  they  are  invested  with  a  sacred  charter,  like  Moses  or 
Isaiah.  But  a  Yankee  is  an  Englishman  with  his  coat  off — yes,  more  than  one 
coat — and  not  least  the  coat  of  insular  prejudice.  Thanks  to  throwing  off  preju 
dices,  we  see  in  infant  settlements,  the  building  of  union  churches — where  sects 
meet  each  other  half-way,  and.  in  older  towns,  the  custom  of  union  meetings 
where  sects  fraternize,  which  in  other  countries  have  no  dealings  with  each  other. 

Let  us  not  despair  of  a  broad  church,  like  a  dome  radiating  with  equal  ex 
pansion  toward  every  quarter  of  the  earth,  and  directing  its  convergent  curves  to 


I2O  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


heaven — a  church  lacking  neither  Unitarianism,  nor  Baptist  literalism,  noi  Pres 
byterian  staunchness,  nor  Methodist  fervor,  nor  Quaker  calmness,  nor  Congre 
gational  individuality,  nor  Episcopal  forms  of  souud  words,  nor  Catholic  spir 
itual  power. 

The  energy  of  National  interaction  among  us  is  evinced  by  our  assimilations. 
Abroad,  races  live  side  by  side  for  ages  without  intermingling  more  than  oil  and 
water,  each  holding  fast  its  dialect  and  even  dress.  The  old  world,  as  it  goes  on 
its  old  way,  is  like  Moab,  who  had  settled  on  his  lees,  and  had  not  been  emptied 
from  vessel  to  vessel ;  neither  had  he  gone  into  activity;  therefore  his  taste  re 
mained  in  him,  ;ind  his  scent  was  not  changed.  There,  lands,  an  hour's  journey 
apart  in  geographical  distance,  are  put  a  million  miles  asunder  by  mutual  con 
tempt.  Here,  on  the  other  hand,  all  people,  nations,  tribes  and  tongues  tend, 
like  kindred  drops,  to  commingle.  They  become  homogeneous  as  the  ocean,, 
though  heterogeneous  as  its  shores.  Those  whom  Babel  scattered  are  here 
gathered,  and  will  abolish  the  confusion  of  tongues,  and  at  the  last,  many  other 
confusions. 

They  tend  to  a  single  language,  one  essentially  English — yet  a  greater 
English  not  without  idioms  culled  from  the  speech  of  every  other  people  within 
out  gates.  As  an  aggregate  of  selected  beauties,  it  will  be  analogous  to  the  vo 
cabulary  of  Homer — a  free  combination  for  the  noblest  purposes  of  various  popu 
lar  dialects — e plttribus  unum. 

Being  eclectic  as  the  best  portrait  of  Venus  was,  we  may  hope  it  will  rival 
the  beauty  and  fame  of  that  Goddess. 

"Appelles  seeking  to  paint  Venus'  face 
Together  culled  the  maidens  of  the  place. 
Whatever  charm  in  face  or  form  was  seen, 
He  straight  transferred  to  grace  his  Paphian  Queen, 
His  work  a  paragon  you  well  might  call, 
Derived  from  many  yet  surpassing  all, 
Such  as  that  Goddess  in  whose  form  were  found 
The  gathered  graces  of  the  Virgins  round, 
Thy  speech,  Columbia,  shows'the  magic  force 
Of  varied  beauties  culled  from  many  a  source." 

Our  composite  nationality  is  fortunate  in  respect  to  foreign  relations. 

Whenever  an  American  travels  abroad  he  is  constantly  meeting  men  and' 
women  who  greet  him  more  cordially  and  talk  with  him  more  eagerly,  because 
they  have  kindred  or  friends  who  have  made  their  homes  in  his  home,  and  be 
come,  as  Germans  say,  his  "Land-brothers."  Accordingly,  whenever  we  wander 
we  still  go  a  cousining  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  European  potentates  can 
after  centuries  of  Royal  intermarriage. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION  121 


It  has  long  been  known  that  with  hospitable  inclusiveness  crying,  "Open 
locks,  whoever  knocks,"  we  adopt  all  comers  into  citizenship,  and  give  eveiy 
man  a  farm.  Mindful  of  this  hospitality,  with  room  enough  about  its  hearth  for 
all  mankind — the  cosmopolitan  feeling  towards  us  is:  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done 
this  unto  the  least  of  our  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  us."  Thus  we  are  woven 
into  a  closer  web  of  union  with  all  the  woild.  We  touch  it  at  all  points,  no 
matter  what  oceans  are  interposed. 

Influences  flowing  from  our  composite  nationality  must  be  more  powerful 
because  they  are  permanent.  "Let  the  traveler,"  says  Lord  Bacon,  "prick  in 
some  flowers  of  that  he  hath  learned  abroad  into  the  customs  of  his  own  country." 
But  flowers  are  fading  and  will  not  bear  transplantation.  Thanks,  however,  to 
our  gathering  of  the  nations,  we  possess  not  merely  flowers  and  the  plants  which 
bear  them  from  every  clime,  but  whole  gardens  spirited  away  from  their  native 
seats,  and  set  down  to  bloom  among  us  amaranthine  forever. 

Cur  people  have  caught  many  a  hint  from  gazing  at  the  World's  Fairs  in 
London  and  Paris,  or  other  foreign  capitals.  It  is  natural  that  they  should  be 
still  more  profited  by  the  life-long  abode  among  us  of  so  many  of  the  cunning 
artists  and  artisans  who  created  the  miracles  in  those  expositions. 

To  sum  up  all :  Nations  here  flowing  together  into  a  cosmopolitan  state,, 
under  a  Providence  which  "Had  determined  the  bounds  of  their  habitation," 
have  builded  wiser  than  they  knew,  and  that  in  the  composite  order  of  architec 
ture.  The  whole,  spite  of  mathematics — proves  to  be  greater  than  all  its  parts,, 
for  the  relations  between  those  parts  work  in  them  a  transformation,  a  trans 
figuration. 

*  Let  us  hope  the  outcome  will  be  nothing  akin  to  the  golden  pall  which  came 
forth  from  the  furnace  where  multiform  Jewish  jewels  were  thrown  in.  Let  the 
amalgam  turn  out  analogous  to  Corinthian  brass,  more  precious  than  gold.  Or 
let  it  resemble  the  Borghese  table,  which  is  inlaid  with  a  specimen  of  every 
known  gem,  each  exalting  each.  Let  its  emblem  be  a  poly-chromatic  sun-set, 
gathering  in  one  all  the  colors  the  god  of  day  has  beheld  in  his  earth-circling 
march.  May  our  blessed  blendings  have  free  course  and  be  glorified  till  they 
shall  be  associated  in  all  men's  minds  with  the  Apostles'  Creed,  rounded  to  per 
fection  by  a  sentence  from  every  one  of  the  saintly  twelve,  or  with  jasper,  sap 
phire,  amethyst  and  all  the  manner  of  stones — the  precious  things  of  the  lasting 
hills — which  form  the  foundations  of  the  city  celestial.  Then  shall  life  not  only 
be  worth  living,  but  the  brotherhood  of  man  shall  be  made  perfect. 

Judge  Cassody  then  made  the  following  announcement : 
Mrs.  Mary  A.   Livermore,  of  Massachusetts,  will  address 

the  people  here  this  evening  promptly  at  eight  o'clock,  with 

President  John  Eaton,  of  the  college,  presiding. 


122  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF     THE 


MUSIC. 

The   Convention  then  adjourned  until   8    p.  M.,  Monday, 
July  16,  1888. 


EVENING  SESSION— July  16,  1888— 8  P.  M. 

President  John  Eaton,  presiding. 

President  Eaton,  in  calling  the  meeting  to  order,  said  : 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  This  flickering  of  the  light  (referring  to  the 
electric  lights  which  were  just  turned  on),  is  not  a  part  of  the  prescribed  pro 
gramme.  [Laughter.] 

We  have  met  together  this  evening  to  be  entertained ;  we  are  here  to  recall 
great  events,  and  to  have  foreshadowed  still  greater  events.  We  expect  a  lady 
to  discuss  for  us  interesting  topics,  and  we  are  here  to  listen  to  her.  We  are  not 
here  for  the  purpose  of  conversation.  They  provide  conversations  as  entertain 
ments,  but  that  is  not  the  entertainment  for  this  evening.  Now,  when  one  person 
is  to  entertain  so  many  thousands,  we  must  admit  it  is  a  great  task,  and  every 
principle  of  our  nature  is  appealed  to  to  lighten  that  task  as  much  as  possible. 
Now,  my  friends,  those  of  you  who  endeavor  to  carry  on  the  conversations  that 
you  have  instituted  during  the  day,  or  if  you  want  to  anticipate  for  to-morrow, 
if  you  will  only  remember  that  here  at  this  point  what  you  say  is  heard  with  pe. 
culiar  distinctness,  I  am  sure  you  will  be  specially  cautious.  You  do  not  know  how 
sensitive  the  ears  of  a  speaker  may  be.  I  remember  when  Strauss  was  leading 
the  great  orchestra  of  three  thousand,  in  Boston,  and  one  of  the  instruments  went 
amiss  in  that  orchestra,  you  could  have  seen  him  start  from  his  leader's  platform 
and  rush  toward  that  man,  saying,  "  You,"  "  You,"  "  You." 

Now,  my  young  lady  friend,  and  my  young  gentleman  friend,  who  has  any 
thing  very  particular  to  say  to-night,  I  want  you  to  remember  that  this  lady 
(Mrs.  Livermore)  has  heard  something  very  particular  said  once  in  her  life,  and 
she  may  hear  you,  as  Strauss  heard  this  insignificant  noise,  and  we  would  be  hor 
rifled  if  we  should  see  her  flying  into  the  midst  ol  this  audience,  pointing  at  he 
with  her  finger,  "  You,"  "  You,"  "  You."  [Laughter.] 

And  now,  we  have  one  request  of  the  ushers,  and  that  is,  if  they  find  any 
young  co-uple  or  old  couple  cooing  so  devotedly  that  they  cannot  listen  to  the 
speaker,  we  wish  them  to  invite  that  couple  to  some  other  paradise  in  the  park. 
[Laughter.] 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  123 


My  friends,  this  evening  you  have  the  opportunity  of  being  entertained  by 
one  who,  in  her  own  person,  has  illustrated  the  enlargement  of  the  privileges  of 
woman.  She  has  been  faithful  in  the  home;  in  society;  she,  as  is  widely  and 
well  known  among  the  soldiers,  lifted  up  her  right  hand  and  gave  herself  in  de 
votion  to  those  who  were  sick  and  wounded  in  the  field.  [Applause.]  There  are 
soldiers  here  that  will  recognize  her  this  evening.  And  more,  she  has  gone  on 
in  the  work  of  saving  the  Union  by  speaking  from  platform  to  platform,  and 
urging  on  the  grand  principles  for  which  you  fought.  She  comes  here  to-night 
to  enlist  your  interest,  and  the  interest  of  all  persons,  and  of  future  generations, 
in  the  enlargement  of  the  privileges  of  women. 

I  now  have  the  honor  and  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  Mrs.  Mary  A. 
Livermore,  of  Massachusetts.  [Great  applause.] 

Address  of  J^Irs.  JMarvj  /\.  LiVermore. 


It  has  never  been  possible  for  an  age  or"  a  nation  to  comprehend  its  place  in 
history.  When  the  Athenians  won  the  hard-fought  battle  of  Marathon,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  fifth  century  before  our  era,  they  were  utterly  unaware  of  the 
momentous  importance  of  their  victory.  They  only  understood  that  they  had 
defeated  the  invincible  Persians,  who  had  conquered  and  enslaved  nearly  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  known  world,  and  so  maintained  their  right  to  govern  themselves 
and  work  out  their  own  destiny.  We  see,  to-day,  that  the  battle  of  Marathon 
gave  to  the  European  race  the  prestige  of  superiority  as  against  the  Asiatic,' se 
cured  for  mankind  the  intellectual  treasures  of  Athens,  the  liberal  enlightenment 
of  the  Western  world,  and  the  gradual  ascendancy  of  European  civilization. 

Neither  Luther*  nor  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  foresaw  the  magnificent  re 
sults  of  the  Reformation  begun  in  the  sixteenth  century.  We  trace  back  to  it  a 
desire  for  knowledge,  which  has  led  to  the  large  educational  movements  of  to 
day,  and  an  enlargement  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  which  is  yet  on  the  increase, 
and  is  destined  to  include  the  race. 

When  the  little  band  of  48  pioneers  left  Massachusetts,  a  hundred  years  ago, 
under  the  lead  of  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam,  and  plunged  into  the  wilderness  of  the 
Ohio  Valley,  their  main  impelling  motive  was  to  obtain  homes  for  themselves  and 
their  families.  Large  arrears  of  pay  were  due  them  for  their  services  in  the 
armies  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  in  lieu  of  gold,  silver  or  "greenbacks," 
they  were  paid  in  "certificates,"  or  drafts  on  an  empty  exchequer — and  they 
came  hither  to  convert  these  ."certificates"  into  land.  They  were  grand  men. 
Some  of  the  best  blood  in  the  world  ran  in  their  veins.  They  were  of  Puritan 
descent,  and  were,  instinctively  and  naturally,  moral  and  religious.  Many  of 


I  24  REPORT    OF     THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


them  were  men  of  intellect  and  culture  ;  one-fourth  of  them  held  commissions  in 
the  army ;  all  were  soldiers,  and  nearly  a  fifth  of  them  were  college  graduates, 
who  brought  into  the  wilderness  the  arts  and  sciences — and  these  came  to  found 
a  State.  But  the  possibilities  of  the  State  they  came  to  build,  the  age  of  stupen 
dous  development  on  the  threshold  of  which  they  stood,  the  century  of  mar 
velous  progress  that  waited  on  the  great  Northwest,  which  was  established  by 
the  "Ordinance  of  1787,"  which  brought  them  hither — this  defied  the  forecast  of 
the  ablest  and  wisest  man  of  their  number. 

Fisher  Ames,  in  1789,  declared  "it  was  past  calculation,  when  the  almost  im 
measurable  wilderness  of  the  Ohio  vvou.d  be  settled,  or  how  it  could  possibly  be 
governed."  Mr.  Dickerson,  of  New  Jersey,  told  the  U.  S.  Senate,  in  1825,  that 
"a  passage  would  be  made  through  the  Arctic  Ocean  as  soon  as  Oregon  Ter 
ritory  should  be  a  State."  Henry  Clay  predicted  in  1832,  that  "centuries  after 
the  present  day,  the  representatives  of  our  children's  children  might  be  deliber 
ating  in  the  halls  of  Congress  on  laws  relating  to  the  public  lands."  And  as  late 
as  1846  Daniel  Webster  prophesied  that  "  the  river  St.  Johns,  in  Eastern 
Canada,  would  always  be  worth  a  hundred  times  more  than  the  Columbia,  in 
Oregon,  for  all  purposes  of  human  use."  No  statesman  of  the  past  or  present  has 
ever  been  able  to  foresee  the  grandeur  of  the  possibilities  of  the  United  States — 
and  the  prophesies  of  even  a  brief  quarter  of  a  century,  relating  to  our  country, 
are  pauperized  by  the  reality. 

Three  hundred  years  ago,  it  would  have  been  safe  to  predict  that  Spain 
would  almost  certainly  extend  her  empire  over  the  whole  of  North  America.  No 
other  European  power,  at  that  time,  held  a  foot  of  ground  this  side  of  the  At 
lantic.  But  Phillip  II,  of  Spain,  who  aspired  to  universal  dominion,  was  lord  of 
the  most  splendid  portions  of  the  New  World,  which  Columbus  had  discovered. 
The  empires  of  Peru  and  Mexico,  now  Spain  and  Chili,  Florida,  Hispaniola,  and 
Cuba,  with  many  other  American  islands,  were  Spanish  provinces.  The  standing 
army  of  Spain  was  the  largest  in  Christendom,  and  the  most  perfect  in  discipline 
and  equipment,  and  its  fleet  the  most  numerous  and  best  appointed  in  Europe. 
No  such  mighty  power  had  existed  in  the  world  since  the  downfall  of  the  Roman 
empire,  and  when  De  Soto  pushed  on  from  Florida  to  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and 
began  its  exploration,  the  Northwest,  then  in  undisputed  possession  of  savages, 
seemed  likely  to  come  under  Spanish  control. 

But  the  overwhelming  defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada  brought  to  this  mighty 
power  bankruptcy  and  demoralization.  Rapid  decay  followed,  and,  when  ten 
years  later,  Phillip  II  died,  he  left  a  ruined  kingdom,  which  has  steadily  waned, 
till  it  is  almost  without  influence  in  the  affairs  of  the  world. 

A  hundred  years  later,  in  1688,  and  the  future  of  the  great  Northwest  was 
again  menaced.  For  now  France  was  the  prepondering  power  of  the  world,  and 
"Le  Grand  Monarque,"  Louis  XIV,  had  become  the  successor  of  Phillip  II,  in 
.his  wild  ambition  to  dominate  the  world.  It  was  an  age  when  France  made 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  125 


great  progress  in  arts,  letters  and  wealth — when  the  French  people  were  fired 
with  a  noble  zeal  to  explore  the  Western  Continent,  toj:olonize  it  and  to  plant  on 
it  their  institutions,  their  religion,  their  civilization.  They  obtained  undisputed 
possession  of  the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and  St.  Lawrence,  and  of  the  Great 
Lakes.  Spain  was  forced  back  to  Mexico,  and  the  English  colonies  lay  between 
the  Alleghanies  and  the  ocean,  while  France  surrounded  them  on  the  north  and 
west.  One  might  now  have  prophesied  confidently  that  the  Northwest  would 
be  French  in  nationality,  monarchical  in  government,  and  Roman  Catholic  in 
.  religion. 

But  Europe  became  alarmed  at  the  ambitious  schemes  of  Louis  XIV,  and  a 
"Grand  Alliance"  of  European  powers  was  formed  against  him,  of  which  Eng 
land  took  the  lead.  War  followed,  and  the  great  monarch  was  defeated  over 
whelmingly,  and  his  once  proud  visions  of  universal  conquest  were  dissipated 
forever.  Now  it  was  inevitable  that  there  should  be  a  conflict  between  England 
and  France  on  this  Western  Continent,  for  the  scepter  of  leadership  had  passed 
from  the  latter  to  the  former,  and  England  was  now  the  foremost  nation  of  the 
world.  A  prolonged  conflict,  running  through  nearly  half  .a  century,  resulted  in 
the  expulsion  of  the  French  from  the  Northwest,  and  in  so  complete  an  uproot 
ing  of  her  dominion,  that  only  the  occasional  French  names  of  towns  and  fivers 
remain  as  a  reminder  of  its  former  ownership. 

And  now,  this  mighty  Northwest  was  in  the  possession  of  Great  Britain,  and 
was  one  of  its  dependencies.  Who  would  have  hesitated,  after  the  fall  of  Que 
bec,  and  the  treaty  of  1763,  to  predict  that  henceforth  North  America  would  be* 
English  America,  and  would  form  an  integral  part  of  the  British  Empire,  with 
institutions,  civilization  and  liberties  established  by  the  English  Government  ? 
Such  was  now  the  outlook.  But  the  iniquity  and  folly  of  the  British  ministry  in 
the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  brought  on  the  war  of  the  American 
Revolution,  which  established  the  independence  of  these  United  States,  and  led 
to  the  creation  of  this  mighty  trans-Atlantic  power,  which,  either  for  good  or  for 
evil,  is  to  dominate  the  world. 

"Truly,"  said  Matthew  Arnold,  after  he  had  completed  the  tour  of  our 
country,  "  America  holds  the  future." 

And  thus  it  has  come  to  pass  that  this  great  Northwest,  whose  future  desti 
nies  at  one  time  seemed  to  hang  on  the  movements  of  Spain,  as  she  played  her 
game  for  leadership,  with  the  nations  of  the  world — and  which  then  fell  to  the 
ownership  of  France,  only  in  turn  to  be  out-matched  by  England — has  at  last 
come  to  be  American.  Still  young  and  undeveloped,  it  is  already  the  imperial 
portion  of  our  fair  country.  In  extent  of  territory,  in  the  character  and  number, 
of  its  people,  in  wealth,  in  education,  in  steadfast  loyalty  to  the  great  Republic, 
of  which  it  is  a  part,  it  leads  easily.  The  West  will  shape  the  policy  of  the 
government,  and  determine  the  character  and  the  destiny  of  the  Nation  in  the 
future.  And  thus  far,  the  Northwest,  by  its  steadfastness,  and  its  devotion  to  the 


126  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


great  principles  of  constitutional  liberty,  has  led  the  West.     It  is,  therefore,  no 
'ordinary  occasion  which   has  convened  us.     It  is  the  centenary   of  one  of  the 
most  auspicious  events  in  the  history  of  man — the  centenary  of  the  first  settle 
ment  of  this  historic  town,  and  of  the  Northwest,  under  the  ordinance  of  1787. 

Who  were  these  colonists?  They  were  men,  who,  as  subjects  of  the  English 
crown,  soldiers  and  officers,  had  fought  under  the  English  flag,  to  wrest  the 
country  from  France.  Subsequently,  when  there  were  refused  to  Englishmen 
living  in  America,  the  rights  enjoyed  by  Englishmen  living  in  England,  they  re 
conquered  the  territory  from  England,  with  the  aid  of  France,  and  made  it  free- 
and  independent  forever.  They  were  not  hot-headed  philosophers,  crazed  by 
the  theories  of  the  French  Revolution,  as  many  to-day  would  have  you  beheve. 
The  "  glittering  generalities "  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  as  Rufus 
Choate  sneeringly  called  the  immortal  principles  of  our  great  Charter  of  Liberty, 
were  not  deductions  from  Rousseau,  Voltaire  or  any  other  French  philosopher. 
They  were  simply  the  reiteration  of  the  rights  of  English  citizenship,  expanded 
and  adapted  to  the  exigencies  of  the  new  world,  in  which  the  colonists  had 
planted  themselves.  For  the  American  civilization  is  only  a  continuation  of  the 
English  civilization,  under  new  conditions — some  of  them  more  favorable,  and 
others  less  so.  "  Before  there  was  a  revolution  in  France,  or  a  democracy  in 
France,"  says  a  late  writer,  "Jefferson's  most  Democratic  words  had  been  spoken 
in  America.  And  all  the  facts  go  to  show  that  if  there  was  any  learning  from 
each  other  in  political  science,  between  him  and  the  French  philosophers,  they 
were  the  pupils,  and  not  Jefferson." 

They  were  men  accustomed  to  good  government  and  good  society  in  New 
England,  and  they  desired  a  continuance  of.  the  same  in  the  Ohio  Valley.  They 
were  capable  of  self-government,  and  had  proved  themselves  capable  of  self- 
defence,  and  of  protection  to  the  weak.  They  were  not  only  men  of  the  learned 
professions,  but  were  successful  farmers  and  skilled  artisans.  "  They  had  camped 
together,  and  eaten  together.  They  had  fought  and  bled  together."  They  were 
a  glorious  remnant  of  the  Revolutionary  army,  who  had  come  out  from  seven 
years  of  battle,  want,  suffering  and  privation,  to  find  their  occupations  gone,  their 
private  fortunes  ruined  and  their  families  stooped  in  poverty.  Through  it  all, 
they  had  maintained  their  faith  in  God  unshaken,  and  their  moral  characters  un 
tarnished.  Religion  and  patriotism  had  become  to  them  synonymous  terms,  and 
their  early  love  of  liberty  had  developed  into  an  intense  passion  for  the  Republic. 
The  world  has  never  seen  grander,  more  versatile,  more  self-poised  men,  nor  has 
any  other  part  of  our  National  Territory  since  then  been  settled  under  like  au 
spices. 

"  The  forty-one  men  who  landed  from  the  Mayflower  at  Plymouth,  in  1620, 
and  the  forty-eight  men  who  came  down  the  Ohio  in  the  Mayflower  to  Marietta, 
in  1788,  were  of  the  same  race,  and  the  same  faith,"  says  Senator  Hoar.  They 
were  indeed,  but  both  the  race  and  the  faith  had  been  mightily  strengthened  and 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  1 27 


refined  by  the  experiences  through  which  both  had  passed,  during  the  century 
and  a  half  that  had  elapsed  since  the  Mayflower  of  the  Puritans  sailed  up  Mas 
sachusetts  Bay.  God's  divinest  agents  of  help  are  no1  unfrequently  hindrances. 
And  the  men  of  New  England,  from  out  whose  iimits  came  the  forty-eight  men' 
that  founded  Marietta,  had  been  so  divinely  "hindered"  by  the  mightiest  obsta 
cles  ever  encountered,  that  to  them  there  was  nothing  impossible,  when  honor 
led  the  way,  and  duty  commanded.  Foreordained  to  the  work,  hardened  and 
finely  tempered  like  Damascus  steel  by  Herculean  labors,  softened  and  refined  by 
religion  and  affiliation  with  women  of  a  rare  and  noble  type,  they  laid  the  foun 
dations  of  empire  here  in  the  Northwest,  so  broadly  and  solidly,  that  here  it  must 
ever  remain. 

As  I  have  searched  out  and  studied  the  histories  of  these  immortal  forty-eight 
pioneers  who  made  their  way  across  the  mountains,  through  the  pathless  snow  in 
mid-winter,  manifesting  a  hardy  endurance  and  a  heroic  fortitude  rarely  equaled,, 
and  who  found  themselves  in  April,  a  century  ago,  on  the  spot  where  we  now 
stand,  without  a  roof  to  shelter  them  in,  I  have  asked  myself,  What  of  the  women 
associated  with  these  heroes?  Who  were  their  mothers  and  wives,  their  sisters 
and  sweethearts?  As  I  have  followed  them  in  their  exploits  in  the  savage  wil 
derness,  now  assailed  by  Indians,  who  stole  their  horses,  slaughtered  their  cattle, 
tomahawked  their  men,  and  captured  their  women,  now  battling  with  the  fury  of 
the  elements,  and  then  the  victim  of  the  insidious  diseases  that  are  the  bane  of 
pioneer  life,  and  through  all  reverses  and  calamities  exhibiting  the  same  unflinch 
ing  courage,  and  the  same  heroic  persistence,  I  have  again  inquired,  WThat  of  the 
women  ?  For  I  have  learned  through  my  studies,  as  well  as  by  observation  of 
life,  that  the  most  God-like  qualities  of  manhood  rarely  come  to  fruitage,  save 
when  they  are  matched  and  stimulated  by  equally  lofty  traits  of  womanhood 
[Applause.] 

History,  not  condescending  to  fullness  of  detail  when  it  speaks  of  the  men 
who  came  to  Marietfa  a  century  ago,  is  very  chary  of  information  Concerning  the 
women  associated  with  them.  But  the  war  of  the  Revolution  had  ended  only 
five  years  previous  to  the  hegira  to  the  Ohio  Valley — the  Declaration  of  Inde. 
pendence  and  the  Ordinance  of  1787  were  cotemporaneous — and  the  Convention 
that  framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  in  session  when  the  Ordi 
nance  was  passed.  These  men  and  women  belonged,  therefore,  to  the  stirring 
days  of  the  Revolution. 

"The  ammunition  of  the  Continental  soldiery  in  the  war  for  freedom  came 
from  the  pulpit  and  the  farmer's  fireside,"  said  Senator  Hoar.  The  men  of  the 
Revolution  had  no  cowardly,  faint-hearted  mothers  and  wives  to  hang  about  their 
necks  like  mill-stones.  Their  women  were  as  heroic  in  fiber  as  themselves.  [Ap 
plause.]  Patriotic  mothers  nursed  the  infancy  of  freedom.  They  talked  with 
their  children  of  the  wrongs  of  the  people,  and  of  their  invaded  rights,  and  ut- 

9  C.  R. 


128  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


tered  their  aspirations  for  a  better  state  of  things,  and  sons  and  daughters  grew 
sensitive  to  the  tyranny  that  oppressed  their  parents,  and  as  they  came  to  maturity 
burned  with  an  intense  desire  to  defend  their  rights  to  the  utmost.  During  the 
French  and  Indian  war  that  preceded  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  women  had 
learned  to  rely  on  themselves,  had  become  expert  in  the  use  of  fire-arms,  and  in 
many  instances  had  defended  themselves  and  children.  They  were  fired  with  the 
same  love  of  liberty  as  the  men  ;  they  were  equally  stung  with  the  aggressions  of' 
the  British  government,  and  as  resolute  in  their  determination  to  resist  them. 
They  encouraged  the  men  to  enter  the  army ;  cheered  them  when  despondent ; 
toned  them  to  heroic  firmness  when  wavering,  and  cheerfully  assumed  every 
burden  which  the  men  dropped  to  repel  the  invaders  of  their  country  and  their 
homes.  [Renewed  applause.] 

Not  only  did  women  mingle  their  prayers  with  those  of  men  at  the  family 
altar,  beseeching  divine  guidance,  but  their  own  counsel  was  sought  by  men,  and 
given,  in  the  deliberations  that  resulted  in  the  Nation's  independence.  Less  than 
half  a  century  ago  biographical  sketches  of  the  women  of  the  Revolution  were 
published,  whose  achievements  entitled  them  to  prominence.  The  list  included 
the  names  of  over  one  hundred  and  sixty  women,  who  had  rendered  signal  ser. 
vice  to  their  country.  Despite  the  light  esteem  in  which  the  service  of  women 
has  been  held,  and  the  ease  with  which  it  is  forgotten,  their  record  had  been  pre 
served,  and  their  memories  perpetuated  for  three-quarters  of  a  century. 

Foremost  among  them  stood  Mrs.  Mercy  Warren,  wife  of  Joseph  Warren, 
and  sister  of  James  Otis,  author  of  the  never-to-be-forgotten  axiom,  "Taxation 
without  representation  is  tyranny."  She  possessed  the  fiery  ardor  and  patriotic 
zeal  of  her  distinguished  brother,  with  more  political  wisdom  and  sagacity.  She 
was  the  first  one  to  suggest  the  doctrine  of  the  "  right  of  life,  liberty  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness  as  inherent  and  belonging  to  all  mankind,"  and  the  patriots 
of  that  day  accepted  her  teaching.  She  first  of  all  counseled  separation  from 
the  mother  country  as  the  only  solution  of  the  political  problem,  and  so  impressed 
her  convictions  upon  Samuel  and  John  Adams  that  they  were  foremost  in  their 
advocacy  of  "  Independence,"  and  received  marked  discourtesy  from  their  co- 
temporaries  for  their  imprudence. 

She  corresponded  with  the  Adamses,  Jefferson,  Generals  Corry  and  Knox, 
Lee  and  Gates,  and  others  who  sought  her  advice.  She  entertained  General  and 
Mrs.  Washington  ;  supplied  political  parties  with  their  arguments,  and  was  the 
first  woman  to  teach  political  leaders  their  duties  in  matters  of  State.  She  kept 
a  faithful  record  of  events  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  drew  her  own  conclu 
sions  as  a  philosopher  and  politician,  and  at  the  close  of  the  struggle  published  a 
history  of  the  war,  which  contains  faithful  portraits  of  the  most  eminent  men  of 
the  day.  Rochefoucold,  in  his  "Tour  in  the  United  States,"  says  of  her:  "Sel 
dom  has  a  woman  in  any  age  acquired  such  ascendency  by  the  mere  force  of  a 
powerful  intellect,  and  Vrer  influence  continued  through  life." 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  129 


So  grand  a  leader  had  plenty  of  followers,  and  while  there  appears  to  have 
been  no  other  woman  of  the  time  whose  influence  was  as  powerful,  there  were 
not  a  few  who  almost  reached  the  altitude  of  her  rare  development.  The  morale 
of  these  women  penetrated  the  men  of  the  time  with  a  sinewy  courage,  that  never 
weakened  nor  flagged.  And  when  they  enforced  their  words  of  cheer  by  relin 
quishing  prospects  of  advantage  to  themselves— by  renouncing  tea  and  all  other 
imported  luxuries,  and  pledging  themselves  to  card,  spin  and  weave  the  clothing 
of  their  households,  and  as  far  as  possible  of  the  army,  when  they  gave  of  their 
own  property,  and  contributed  arms  and  ammunition  to  the  soldiers,  melted  the 
wealth  of  pewter-ware  in  which  many  of  the  colonial  households  were  rich,  and 
ran  it  into  bullets  for  the  army — when  they  raised  grain,  gathered  it,  and  had  it 
ground  for  bread,  that  the  poor  and  feeble  might  be  fed — when  they  visited  the 
hospitals  with  proper  diet  for  the  sick  and  the  wounded — when  they  sought  out 
the  dungeons  of  the  provost,  and  the  crowded  holds  of  the  prison-ships,  with  food 
and  medicine  in  their  hands,  and  heroic  words  on  their  lips — when  they  un- 
sparirtgly  condemned  coldness  or  backwardness  in  the  nation's  cause,  and  young 
girls  refused  the  suit  of  lovers,  till  they  had  obeyed  the  call  of  their  country  for 
military  service — when  they  received  their  beloved  dead  slain  in  battle,  and  for 
bore  to  weep,  although  their  hearts  were  breaking — when  they  hushed  the  bitter 
resentment  of  their  souls,  which  had  been  aroused  by  British  invasion,  and  gave 
even  to  their  enemies  Christian  burial,  who,  but  for  them  at  times,  would  not  have 
received  it — when  they  trained  their  little  children  to  the  same  uncomplaining 
patience,  the  same  steely  endurance,  and  the  same  heroic  love  of  liberty  that  they 
manifested,  until  boys  and  girls  gloried  in  danger  and  privation — what  wonder, 
then,  that  the  heroes  of  the  Revolutionary  War  were  invincible,  and  that  the 
young  David  of  the  colonies  conquered  the  mighty  Goliah  of  the  nations. 
[Applause]. 

John  Adams,  the  second  President  of  the  Republic,  well  knew  the  women  of 
the  Revolution,  and  was  able  to  measure  a  superior  woman  wherever  he  found 
her,  and  to  estimate  her  influence.  His  own  wife,  Mrs.  Abigail  Adams,  was  the 
-personal  friend  of  Mrs.  Mercy  Warre,n,and  every  whit  her  peer.  Her  husband  was 
proud  to  acknowledge  her  as  his  own  equal,  in  all  save  early  education,  which 
was  accorded  him  in  large  measure  and  wholly  denied  her.  Commenting  on 
the  futile  efforts  of  the  British  General  Howe  to  obtain  possession  of  Philadel 
phia,  which  the  colonists  foiled,  for  a  long  time,  Mr.  Adams  wrote  his  wife,  "I 
do  not  believe  General  Howe  has  a  very  smart  woman  for  a  wife.  A  smart 
wife  would  have  put  Howe  in  possession  of  Philadelphia  a  long  time  ago." 

In  the  winter  of  1780,  the  resources  of  the  country  touched  their  lowest 
point,  and  allowed  but  the  scantiest  supply  of  food  and  clothing  for  any  one. 
British  cruisers  on  the  coast  destroyed  every  hope  of  aid  from  the  merchant  ves 
sels,  and  the  cup  of  misfortune  pressed  to  the  lips  of  the  struggling  colonies  ran 
over  with  bitterness.  Even  the  ability  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  generous  was 
exhausted  by  the  repeated  drafts  made  upon  them.  So  great  was  the  need  of  the 


130  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF     THE 


army,  that  Gen.  Steuben,  who  had  been  aid-de-camp  to  the  King  of  Prussia,  and 
had  learned  the  art  of  war  from  the  renowned  Frederick  the  Great,  declared  that 
"there  was  not  a  commander  in  all  Europe  who  could  keep  his  troops  together  a 
week  in  such  suffering  and  destitution." 

But,  when  all  despaired,  the  women  rallied.  All  else  was  temporarily  for 
gotten.  The  women  of  Philadelphia  went  from  house  to  house,  soliciting  money, 
or  whatever  could  be  converted  into  money.  They  asked  for  cloth,  garments  and 
food.  Rich  ladies  stripped  themselves  of  jewels  that  were  heirlooms  in  their 
families — pillaged  their  parlors  of  bric-a-brac,  with  the  hope  that  it  might  find 
purchasers — and  emptied  their  purses  of  the  last  penny  they  possessed.  More 
than  $7,500  in  specie  were  collected,  when  hard  money  was  at  its  highest  value. 
Poor  colored  women  contributed  their  hard-earned  little  sums,  the  Marchioness 
de  la  Fayette  gave  one  hundred  guineas  in  gold,  and  the  Countess  de  Luzerne 
six  thousand  dollars  in  continental  paper.  They  bought  cloth,  cut  and  made 
gaiments  for  the  soldiers,  and  then  carried  them  to  the  army.  One  lady  cut  five 
hundred  pairs  of  pantaloons  with  her  own  hands,  and  then  superintended,  their 
manufacture.  Mrs.  Bache,  daughter  of  Dr.  Franklin,  was  a  leading  spirit  in  these 
patriotic  efforts.  A  company  of  French  noblemen  called  upon  her,  when  she  con- 
ducted  them  to  her  parlor,  in  which  the  Philadelphia  women  deposited  the 
shirts  they  were  making,  as  fast  as  they  were  completed.  Already  there  were 
tv/enty-two  hundred  of  them,  each  marked  with  the  name  of  the  married,  or  un 
married  lady  who  had  made  it. 

General  Washington  gratefully  acknowledged  the  services  rendered  by 
those  noble  women,  and  said  :  "  The  army  ought  not  to  regret  its  sacrifices  or 
sufferings,  when  they  meet  so  flattering  a  reward  in  the  sympathy  of  women. 
Nor  can  it  fear  its  interests  will  be  neglected,  when  espoused  by  advocates  as 
powerful  as  they  are  amiable." 

This  was  not  a  mere  spasm  of  helpfulness,  that  seon  died  out  in  forgetful- 
ness  and  inaction.  All  through  the  dreary  winter  the  women  continued  their 
visits  to  Washington's  camp,  fortifying  the  men  by  their  own  inflexible  spirit, 
always  laden  with  comforts  for  the  needy,  prepared  to  serve  as  cook  or  seamstress, 
amanuensis  or  nurse,  and  prompt  with  hymn  or  story,  Bible-reading  or  prayer,  as 
the  occasion  demanded. 

Why  do  I  recall  these  events  to  your  memory  ?  Because  the  war  during 
which  these  noble  deeds  were  wrought,  had  been  ended  but  five  years,  when 
Gen.  Putnam,  with  his  band  of  colonists,  arrived  at  the  Muskingum  to  lay  out 
the  town  of  Marietta,  and  prepare  homes  for  the  families  who  were  to  follow. 
Because  these  colonists  were  soldiers  and  officers  of  the  army,  and,  with  their 
families,  were  participants  in  the  events  I  have  recjted.  Because  these  narra 
tions  furnish  a  sort  of  telescope,  through  which  you  may  measure  these  women, 
who  are  but  dimly  shown  to-day  on  the  background  of  the  receding  century. 
Soon  they  began  to  follow  their  husbands  and  fathers  to  their  new  homes  in  the 
wilderness — women  and  children,  little  toddlers  and  babies  in  arms,  hired  men 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION. 


and  young  ladies,  grandparents  and  grandchildren.  In  the  heat  of  the  summer 
they  toiled  over  the  Alleghaneys,  sometimes  in  wagons  built  for  the  pu'pose, 
sometimes  on  horseback,  now  following  an  Indian  war-path,  and  then  traveling  a 
military  road,  and  making  the  last  stage  of  the  journey  in  boats  down  the  Ohio, 
to  their  destination.  One  mother,  with  her  five  children,  crossed  the  mountains  in 
December,  all  suffering  incredible  hardships,  and  were  received  by  the  husband 
and  father  with  joy  indescribable,  and  established  in  the  dwelling-house  he  had 
built  for  them,  forty  feet  by  eighteen,  and  two  stories  in  height.  But  so  great 
were  the  exigencies  of  the  time  that  seventy  people  lived  in  it  during  the  severe 
winter,  and  there  was  no  immediate  possibility  for  family  seclusion. 

All  the  severe  pioneer  work  of  the  Puritans  at  Plymouth,  one  hundred  and 
sixty  years  before,  was  repeated  in  their  experience.  They  built  strong  garrisons, 
and  enclosed  them  with  stout  palisades,  erected  block-houses  and  bastions,  and 
constructed  regular  fortifications.  They  ground  their  corn  in  hand-mills,  till 
they  could  build  better,  carded,  spun  and  wove  by  hand,  built  roads  and  bridges 
and  boats ;  and  whatever  they  did,  and  wherever  they  went,  both  men  and 
women,  they  were  always  armed  for  defence  against  the  Indians.  Even  on  Sun 
day,  "they  went  to  their  block-house  church  in  battle  array,  were  awakened  at 
morning  by  the  reveille,  while  the  tattoo  beat  for  them  at  night,  the  hour  of  re 
tiring. 

If  the  husband  was  compelled  to  leave  his  family  for  a  day,  he  was  careful 
to  see  that  a  trusty  fowling-piece  ready  loaded,  was  left  for  the  defence  of  his 
wife  and  children,  and  the  protection  of  the  cattle.  If  impelled  by  a  hunger  of 
the  heart,  some  woman  ventured  on  a  brief  visit  to  mother  or  sister,  daughter  or 
friend,  she  stole  like  a  ghost  through  the  forest,  rifle  in  hand,  or  paddled  her 
canoe  down  the  river  as  stealthily  as  a  savage,  ready  in  an  emergency  to  defend 
herself  to  the  last.  If  an  incursion  of  Indians  attacked  the  isolated  home,  the 
brave  mother  fought  like  a  tigress  for  her  little  ones,  till  even  the  red  men  were 
filled  with  admiration  of  her  bravery.  "  Oh,  she's  a  brave  squaw;"  they  shouted 
to  one  another,  when  they  beheld  several  of  their  number  wounded  and  pros 
trate  from  the  rifle  of  a  mother,  whose  home  they  had  assailed,  and  who  was 
fighting  for  her  children  with  the  energy  of  despair :  "  Oh,  she's  a  brave  squaw  ; 
don't  kill  her;  let  her  live.'' 

No  one  at  this  day  can  appreciate  the  value  of  the  labors  of  the  pioneer 
women,  to  whom  this  State  of  Ohio  is  so  deeply  indebted.  They  were  women 
of  grace  and  refinement.  They  lacked  no  charm  of  pleasing  manners,  were  en 
dowed  with  strong  common  sense,  and  quick  intelligence,  and  all  were  devout  and 
religious,  and  unswerving  in  their  allegiance  to  right  and  duty.  Many  of  them 
were  educated,  taught  at  home  by  fathers  and  grandfathers  who  were  college 
graduates,  for  there  was  scant  provision  for  their  training  in  schools.  They  were 
familiar  with  the  English  classics  and  the  polite  literature  of  the  day,  and  studied 
and  assimilated  the  books  of  travel,  history,  philosophy  and  belles-lettres,  which 


132  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


stocked  the  few  and  small  family  libraries  that  the  colonists  bore  with  them  into 
the.  wilderness. 

Their  first  care  was  for  the  literary  and  religious  instruction  of  their  children, 
and  an  upper  story  of  one  of  their  block-houses  was  fitted  with  rude  benches  and 
a  simple  desk  for  the  accommodation  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons.  For  a 
time  it  served  a  three-fold  purpose,  being  used  for  a  school  during  the  week,  for 
a  church  and  Sunday  School  on  the  Sabbath,  and  a  court-room  whenever  it  was 
needed  for  that  purpose.  The  school  came  first,  taught  by  a  man — a  bachelor — 
who,  because  he  had  no  children  of  his  own,  was  set  to  the  training  of  every 
body's  children.  Then  followed  the  Sunday  School,  established  by  the  woman 
who  was  nurse,  missionary,  philanthropist,  and  good  angel  to  the  whole  settle 
ment.  A  long  Indian  war  steeped  the  colony  in  horrors,  and  caused  a  cessation 
of  all  occupations  not  necessary  to  the  defense  and  maintenance  of  their  lives. 
Not  until  1794,  when  that  brave  and  brilliant  officer  of  the  Revolution,  known 
then  and  now  as  "  Mad  Anthony  Wayne,"  gained  a  signal  victory  over  the 
hostile  Miamis,  did  peace  fold  her  white  wings  in  their  midst.  But  through  all 
the  savage  warfare,  the  Sunday  School  continued  its  sessions,  and  the  women  in 
structed  the  children  in  the  religion  of  their  fathers,  while  the  men  without  de 
fended  them  from  the  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife. 

And  when  a  Christian  church  was  organized,  and  there  was  installed  as  its 
minister  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  College,  and  a  relative  of  Chief  Justice  Story, 
a  man  of  grace  and  sweetness  and  scholarly  attainments,  the  women  gave  them 
selves  to  its  nurture,  with  a  devotion  of  which  those  more  fortunate  are  incapable. 
Now  was  the  burden  lifted  from  their  souls,  for  their  rude  extemporized  place  of 
worship  became  a  weekly  trysting-place  with  Heaven.  From  this  mount  of  vision 
they  beheld  afar  their  glorified  dead,  baptized  with  the  chrism  of  immortality. 
And  gazing  down  the  vista  of  the  future,  they  saw,  in  part,  the  realization  of  the 
hopes  and  dreams  of  their  vanished  youth,  and  were  content  with  the  work  as 
signed  them — that  of  aiding  to  lay  in  imperishable  solidity  the  foundations  of  a 
future  free  commonwealth.  [Applause.] 

John  Stewart  Mill  tells  us  that  "  when  women  do  not  push  men  forward  they 
hold  them  back."  What  did  these  women  a  hundred  years  ago  ?  Let  the  record 
of  Ohio  for  the  last  century  give  answer.  She  has  become  one  of  the  foremost 
States  of  the  Union  in  population,  wealth,  enterprise  and  importance,  and  has 
strode  forward  to  the  third  rank  among  them  !  She  has  done  her  share  in  mould 
ing  the  character  of  the  nation,  has  cherished  and  vitalized  the  organic  ideas  to 
which  the  Republic  owes  its  very  existence,  and  has  defended  its  life  with  valiant 
service  when  it  was  assailed  by  foes  of  its  own  household.  She  has  kept  inviolate 
the  great  charge  solemnly  imposed  upon  her,  in  the  very  beginning,  and  her  soil 
has  been  untrodden  by  the  foot  of  slaves.  When  they  crossed  the  beautiful  river 
that  makes  her  boundary  line,  a  veritable  Red  Sea  to  many  a  fleeing  bondsman,, 
they  trod  the  land  of  freedom  and  their  shackles  fell.  [Applause.]  She  has 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  133 


given  birth  to  great  captains  whom  the  nation  delights  to  honor — Grant,  Sher 
man  and  Sheridan  [renewed  applause],  who  fought  to  maintain  the  unity  of  a 
divided  people  and  to  crush  out  the  cause  of  a-  fratricidal  quarrel.  [Continued 
applause.]  She  has  reared  sons  to  till  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  nation — 
Haye-,  on  whose  administration  rests  no  stain  ;  Garfield,  over  whose  bier  the 
whole  world  wept.  [Cheers.]  Her  judges  have  been  men  of  fair  fame  and  judicial 
reputation,  and  have  giver,  new  lustre  to  the  highest  court  of  the  land  when  they 
have  sat  upon  the  bench. 

Midway  in  the  century,  at  grand  old  Oberlin,  she  began  the  first  collegiate 
co-education  experiment  of  the  world,  and  made  a  proud  success  of  it,  a  quarter 
of  a  century  in  advance  of  other  colleges.  Black  men  hailed  Oberlifi  as  their 
Alma  Mater,  as  well  as  women,  and  with  the  courage  of  her  convictions,  she 
proceeded  to  add  new  studies  to  her  curriculum,  and  refused  to  conform  to  the 
educational  methods  of  the  schools,  but  introduced  reforms.  To  the  horror  of 
New  England,  she  even  ventured  on  the  awful  step  of  subduing  the  Calvinistic 
rigor  of  the  theology  of  the  time,  and  the  metaphysical  hair-splitting  of  the  pul 
pits  gave  way  to  the  pleadings  of  a  tenderer  religion,  and  to  practical  discourses 
aimed  at  the  reformation  of  life  and  character.  Above  all  things  has  Ohio  had 
a  dread  of  inaction  and  retrogression.  Progress  has  been  her  watchword.  [Ap 
plause].  Whatever  would  contribute  mental  or  moral  stimulus,  she  has  been 
.prompt  to  seize,  and  tenacious  to  retain.  The  common  school,  the  daily  paper, 
the  lecture  platform,  the  debating  society,  the  university,  the  college  of  music, 
the  church — all  have  been  welcomed  and  cultivated,  and  all  have  helped  to 
quicken  the  pulse  and  accelerate  the  pace  of  the  people. 

In  all  recorded  times,  the  influence  of  mothers  on  the  early  character  of  sons, 
and  the  permanent  impression  made  by  young  women  upon  young  men,  have 
been  mighty  agents  in  the  formation  of  character,  and  in  determining  the  pro 
gress  of  civilization.  Recalling  the  nobleness  of  these  women  pioneers,  shall  we 
ignore  their  share  in  the  building  of  this  goodly  commonwealth,  and  celebrate 
this  centenary  without  gratefully  bestowing  on  them  their  well-earned  meed  of 
praise  ?  Mindful  of  the  fact  that  women  rarely  run  after  abstractions,  but  de 
mand  that  theories  and  speculations  shall  take  on  the  concrete  form  of  successful 
demonstration  and  accredited  fact,  before  they  give  their  approval,  I  realize  that 
they  have  done  more  than  uphold  the  moral  standard  of  the  State  and  urge  men 
forward.  When  fanaticism  has  let  loose  its  many  "isms"  in  Ohio,  and  unbal 
anced  men  have  heard  the  voice  of  God  commanding  them  to  every  extrava 
gance,  women  have  exerted  a  staying  power  in  the  church,  and  in  society,  and 
scouting  a  leadership  that  has  called  in  a  dozen  directions  at  the  same  moment, 
have  waited  till  some  "good  came  out  of  Nazareth,"  or  till  the  emotional  craze  has 
spent  itself  and  subsided.  All  honor,  then,  to  the  women  pioneers  of  a  hundred 
years  ago !  And  all  hail  to  their  daughters,  on  whom  we  impose  the  solemn  oh- 


134  REPORT    OF  THE    COMMISSION ERh    OF    THE 


ligation  to  continue  in  unbroken  succession  the   line  of  heroic,  unselfish,  public- 
spirited  women!     [Applause]. 

I  will  not  detain  you  with  any  discussion  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  You 
have  already  heard,  or  read,  its  superb  analysis,  by  the  Senator  from  Mas^achu- 
setts,  with  a  recital  of  the  marvelous  results  it  has  wrought  for  the  five  North 
western  States.  And  yet  I  cannot  let  this  occasion  pass  without  speaking  of  two 
or  three  of  its  provisions,  that  have  exerted  a  most  beneficient  effect  upon  woman 
and  her  condition.  The  political  ideas  and  temper  of  the  Revolutionary  Fathers 
were  thoroughly  English,  and  this  appears  in  all  their  early  constitutions,  enact 
ments,  and  constructive  work.  By  the  English  law,  the  oldest  son  inherited  the 
property  of  the  father.  And  so  that  law  prevailed  in  America,  until  Massachu 
setts  and  Virginia  abrogated  it,  by  statutory  enactments,  that  divided  the  prop 
erty  equally  between  sons  and  daughters.  How  slowly  the  other  colonies  reached 
a  like  judicial  decision,  history  shows.  But  long  before  that  time  the  Ordinance 
of  1787  incorporated  the  broad  decision,  at  the  same  time  abolishing  entails,  and 
applied  it  to  the  vast  Northwest.  Then  began  a  revolution  in  the  interest  of 
woman.  "The  abolition  of  primogeniture,"  said  Daniel  Webster,  "fixed  the  fu 
ture  frame  and  form  of  government."  And  De  Tocqueville  declared,  that  "the 
law  of  descent  was  the  last  step  to  equality-" 

The  great  men  who  wrote  the  Ordinance,  built  better  than  they  knew.  All 
the  old  States  wheeled  into  line  and  repealed  their  laws  of  primogeniture,  and 
new  States,  when  organized,  prohibited  them.  The  principle  of  equality,  under 
lying  both  the  repeal  and  prohibition,  has  been  pushed  to  its  ultimate  conclusion 
as  far  as  men  are  concerned.  Men  of  all  races,  color  and  nationalities  have 
gradually  come  to  a  footing  of  common  equality  before  the  law,  and  are  endowed 
with  the  franchise.  And  the  ballot,  in  a  Republic,  is  the  only  synonym  of  legal 
equality  that  can  be  known.  The  same  movement  for  woman,  based  on  the  same 
principle,  has  only  taken  form  during  the  last  half  century,  and  has  moved  more 
slowly  and  with  halting  step.  But  it  has  begun,  and  it  is  only  a  matter  of  time 
when  all  women  shall  be  the  recognized  legal  equals  of  men,  clothed  with  the 
rights  of  the  franchise,  and  with  its  responsibilities  also.  In  thirteen  States  they 
already  have  partial  suffrage,  with  full  suffrage  in  two  territories. 

Another  provision  of  this  ordinance  established  universal  education.  "  Re 
ligion,  morality  and  knowledge  being  necessary  to  good  government,  and  the 
happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever  be  en 
couraged."  That  was  the  declaration.  In  consequence,  one  thirty-sixth  part  of 
the  land  in  every  new  State  has  been  set  apart  for  educational  purposes.  Other 
land  grants  have  been  made  by  Congress,  until  the  educational  endowment  of 
the  Northwest  amounts  to  more  than  twenty  million  acres  of  land.  The  funds 
arising  from  this  source  are  vastly  increased  by  sums  raised  by  taxation,  for  the 
West  carries  enthusiasm  and  largeness  of  purpose  into  her  educational  work. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION  135 


With  marvelous  sense  of  justice,  she  has  taken  up  the  co-education  of  the 
sexes,  and  of  the  ninety-five  colleges  of  the  Northwestern  States,  sixty-eight 
admit  women.  It  is  the  boast  of  the  West  that  "the  largest,  most  flourishing  and 
the  most  influential  of  her  colleges,  throw  open  their  doors  to  men  and  women 
on  equal  terms."  She  has  outrun  the  East  in  her  readiness  to  give  women  an 
equal  chance  with  men,  in  the  world  of  letters  and  science,  and  is  repaid  by  the 
noble  development  and  broad  public  spirit  of  her  daughters.  In  the  early  days, 
when  the  West  was  in  her  infancy,  the  East  gave  her  help  in  many  ways,  and  as 
sisted  in  the  creation  of  her  greatness.  For  the  two  sections  are  indissolubly 
united  by  ties  of  blood  and  friendship,  and  the  East  has  almost  pauperized  her 
self  in  honoring  the  ceaseless  drafts  of  the  West  for  young  men  of  the  noblest 
fibre  and  the  loftiest  purpose.  In  sixteen  of  the  older  States,  twelve  of  them 
lying  on  the  Atlantic  sea-board,  women  to-day  outnumber  men.  In  my  own 
State  of  Massachusetts,  they  are  in  the  majority  by  seventy  thousand.  And  hun 
dreds  of  thousands  of  women  in  the  East  and  Southeast,  will  remain  unmarried, 
because  of  the  passion  of  young  men  for  the  large  life,  and  magnificent  opportu 
nity  of  the  fascinating  Northwest,  into  which  they  have  flung  themselves  with  a 
superb  abandon.  In  the  great  West  men  are  in  the  majority. 

But  the  Northwest  has  amply  repaid  her  obligations,  by  broadening  and  liber 
alizing,  not  the  East  alone,  but  the  whole  nation.  If,  in  the  language  of  another, 
she  has  "  thrown  much  of  the  New  England  ballast  overboard,  and  crowded  the 
canvas,  she  has  held  the  rudder  so  true  as  to  avoid  dangerous  extremes."  She 
has  reacted  on  the  East,  and  forced  her  into  broader  methods  than  she  would  have 
accepted,  so  that  the  Eastern  colleges,  universities  and  technical  schools  that 
open  their  doors  to  women,  are  now  in  the  majority.  She  has  compelled  greater 
"  flexibility  in  educational  systems,"  has  exalted  the  profession  of  the  teacher, 
and  Has  crown  ;d  the  common  school  system  with  the  State  University,  as  its  le 
gitimate  ultimate.  She  has  been  unhampered  by  conservatism,  and  it  is  a  part  of 
her  glory  that  she  has  dared  to  do  what  she  saw  ought  to  be  done. 

Bitterly  as  the  Northwest  has  opposed  the  spread  of  slavery,  standing  firmly 
by  the  compact  which  her  immortal  founders  made  with  Congress, 'to  allow  no 
slave  upon  her  soil,  she  opposed  secession  with  even  more  obstinate  persistence. 
"No  other  part  of  the  Union  has  greater  reason  for  thinking  of  the  part  it 
played  in  the  great  contest,  with  satisfaction  and  pride.  The  President,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  the  great  finance  and  war  ministers,  and  the  foremost  generals  were  from 
the  Northwest,  while  she  furnished  one-third  of  the  men  that  suppressed  the 
rebellion."  I  lived  in  the  Northwest  in  those  memorable  days,  and  for  many 
years  before  and  after.  I  carry  a  divided  heart  in  my  love  for  Boston,  the  city  of 
my  birth,  and  Chicago,  the  city  of  my  adoption — in  my  pride  in  New  England, 
which  began  the  work  of  establishing  free  institutions,  and  expanding  the  prin 
ciples  of  English  liberty,  and  my  glory  in  the  Northwest,  which  has  grandly  con 
tinued  it.  I  shall  never  forget  how  swift  and  apalling  was  the  transition  of  the 


136  REPORT    OF     THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


country,  from  peace  to  the  tumult  and  waste  of  war — nor  how  the  regeneration 
of  women  kept  pace  with  it.     [  \pplause.] 

How  willingly  they  entered  on  the  work  of  philanthropy  and  relief,  and  how 
speedily  they  developed  a  heavenly  side  of  war.  For  the  multiform  work  which 
they  assumed  in  caring  for  the  needy  families  of  soldiers,  the  sick  in  camp,  and  the 
wounded  in  hospitals  and  on  battle-fields,  they  needed  immense  sums  of  money, 
and  now  the  latent  business  abilities  of  women  began  to  show  themselves.  They 
sought  and  obtained  government  contracts  for  the  manufacture  of  army  clothing, 
and  when  they  had  exhausted  every  other  resource,  they  planned  great  money- 
malting  enterprises,  whose  vastness  of  conception  and  good  business  management, 
yielded  millions  of  dollars  to  be  expended  in  the  interest  of  sick  and  wounded 
soldiers.  The  last  two  of  the  colossal  sanitary  fairs  held  in  New  York  and  Phila 
delphia  yielded,  respectively,  $1,000,000  and  $1,200,000.  Although  most  wonder 
fully  seconded  by  men,  women  were  from  first  to  last  the  inspiration,  the  creators 
and  the  great  energizing  force  of  these  immense  fairs,  and  of  the  Sanitary  Com 
mission  also.  "  There  was  nothing  wanting  in  the  plans  of  the  women  of  the 
Commission,"  said  Dr.  Bellows,  "  that  business  men  commonly  think  peculiar  to 
their  own  methods." 

When  the  war  ended,  not  only  the  men  of  the  Northwest  but  of  the  whole 
Nation,  had  awakened  to  the  consciousness  that  there  were  in  women  possibilities 
and  potencies  of  which  they  had  never  dreamed.  Since  the  days  of  that  great 
quickening,  how  the  cause  of  woman  has  moved  forward  as  if,  in  truth,  her  hour 
had  come.  They  have  organized  missionary,  philanthropic,  temperance,  educa 
tional  and  political  organizations,  on  a  scale  of  great  magnitude,  and  without 
much  blowing  of  trumpets  have  carried  them  on  to  success.  Their  capacity  for 
public  affairs  has  received  large  recognition,  and  they  have  been  appointed  or 
elected  to  such  offices  as  county  clerk,  register  of  deeds,  pension  agent,  prison 
commissioner,  State  librarian,  overseer  of  the  poor,  school  superintendent,  execu 
tor  and  administrator  of  estates,  guardian  of  children,  superintendent  of  women's 
State  prisons,  college  professor  and  president,  membership  in  boards  of  State 
charities,  lunacy  and  correction,  postmistress  and  police  matron.  They  are  ac 
countants,  pharmacists,  cashiers,  telegraphers,  stenographers,  type-writers,  chem 
ists,  dentists,  book-keepers,  authors,  journalists,  teachers,  painters,  architects  and 
sculptors.  Men  most  graciously  acknowledge  the  practical  wisdom  and  fidelity 
that  women  carry  to  their  duties,  and  Senator  Blair,  of  New  Hampshire,  from 
his  seat  in  Congress,  declares  that  "  no  charge  of  incompetency  or  malfeasance  in 
office  has  ever  been  sustained  against  a  woman." 

If  women  have  proved  themselves  worthy  of  all  trusts  thus  far  committed  to 
them,  shall  there  be  hesitancy  in  trusting  them  yet  farther  ?  If  they  can  be 
safely  given  the  care  of  estates,  schools,  prisons,  charities  and  institutions — if 
they  are  faithful  as  wives,  mothers,  home-keepers,  a^d  co-workers  with  men,  can 
there  be  doubt  they  will  show  equal  fidelity  in  the  wise  use  of  the  ballot,  to 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  137 


which  the  largest  interpretation  of  liberty  entities  them  ?  Shall  not  the  princi 
ples  formulated  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  underlying  the  Ordi 
nance  of  1787 — twin  documents  that  heralded  an  hour  for  which  the  ages  had 
waited — when  in  the  mortal  throes  of  a  great  spiritual  agony  a  Nation  was  born 
free — shall  these  not  be  applied  to  women  as  they  have  been  to  men,  since  they 
are  but  the  two  halves  of  the  unit  we  call  humanity?  [Applause.] 

Long  years  ago  the  Athenians  erected  a  temple  dedicated  to  the  Goddess 
Minerva,  leaving  a  lofty  niche  in  the  interior,  to  be  nlled  at  some  future  time  with 
a  statue  of  the  Goddess.  At  the  appointed  day,  two  sculptors  who  had  competed 
with  one  another  for  the  honor  of  rilling  the  niche,  brought  their  completed  work 
to  the  temple  for  the  decision  cf  the  judges,  and  a  great  multitude  surged  in 
from  the  market-place  and  the  groves  of  the  academy.  The  first  unveiled  his 
statue.  Exquisite  in  beauty,  perfect  in  proportion,  admirable  in  execution,  a 
murmur  of  delight  ran  through  the  crowd,  for  there  seemed  nothing  lacking.  It 
was  raised  to  the  niche,  when  it  proved  to  be  too  small — it  appeared  like  a  doll 
— and  was  lowered  to  the  floor. 

The  second  sculptor  now  exhibited  his  marble  goddess.  As  perfect  as  the 
first,  it  was  larger,  and  the  multitude  followed  it  with  up-looking  eyes  as  it  went 
upward,  slowly,  slowly,  slowly,  till  it  touched  the  platform  of  the  niche,  when  it 
was  seen  to  fit  exactly,  as  if  measurements  had  been  taken.  With  a  mighty  shout 
the  people  saluted  it,  saying,  "  Thfs  is  the  statue,  and  Phidias  is  the  sculptor  of 
the  gods !" 

The  first  statue  is  the  American  woman  of  to-day,  beautiful,  not  only  in  form 
and  feature,  but  with  the  graces  of  the  spirit  and  the  inner  beauty  of  the  soul.. 
But  she  is  belittled  and  hindered  by  disqualifications  and  the  denial  of  that  per 
fect  freedom  in  which  alone  can  either  man  or  woman  grow  grand  and  greaU 
The  other  is  the  American  woman  of  the  future,  such  as  you  shall  have  when  she 
is  made  the  legal  equal  of  her  husband  and  son,  free  to  do  and  dare  for  them, 
and  her  country,  and  the  world,  without  even  a  gossamer  in  her  path  in  the  way 
of  unjust  hindrance,  or  dwarfing  enactment.  This  is  her  demand  to-day.  Men 
of  the  Northwest,  whose  response  to  great  questions  in  the  past  has  been,  in  the 
main,  noble  and  just,  what  answer  will  you  make  to  the  women  who  now  suppli 
cate  you  ?  [Great  applause.] 

President  Eaton :  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  you  will  now 
have  the  pleasure  of  listening  to  the  music,  and  in  a  very  short 
time  you  will  have  the  opportunity  of  witnessing  the  fire-works 
on  the  Ohio  River. 

Let  me  say  further,  that  to-morrow  evening  you  may  come 
here  and  witness  a  grand  historical  pageant.  They  have  been 


138  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

t 

providing  for  you  a  great  exhibition  of  thought  connected  with 
this  event,  and  to-morrow  night  they  propose  to  embody  those 
thoughts  in  the  persons  that  acted  a  century  ago.  They  invite 
you  all  to  the  pageant ;  and  let  me  say  to  my  young  friends 
who  have  restrained  themselves  so  well  this  evening  in  their 
conversation,  that  I  will  withdraw  that  restraint  to-morrow 
night.  [Laughter.]  They  may  talk  as  much  as  they  please, 
only  so  they  look  intently  at  the  pageant.  Tickets  may  be 
found  at  the  book  stores,  at  the  drug  stores,  and  in  the  ticket 
office  at  Centennial  Hall.  It  is  doubtful  whether  you  can  get 
tickets  by  ten  o'clock  to-morrow  morning. 


After  music  by  the  Elgin  Band,  the  audience  dispersed  to 
witness  the  grand  display  of  fire-works  on  the  Ohio  River. 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       139 


TUESDAY,  JULY  17,   1888— 10  A.  M. 


Programme. 


IO   A.    M. — MUSIC    BY    ELGIN    BAND. 

Senator  W.  T.  Wallace,  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  presiding. 

ORATION Senator  Wm.  M.  Evarts,  of  New  York. 

MUSIC. 


AFTERNOON. 


2  O'CLOCK — SELECTION  BY  ELGIN  BAND. 

Hon.  J.  W.  Belknap,  of  Michigan,  presiding. 
ADDRESS Louis  G.  Palmer,  representing  Michigan. 

MUSIC. 
ADDRESS Hon.  N.  P.  Smith,  representing  Illinois. 

MUSIC. 


EVENING— &  O'CLOCK. 

Historical  Pageant  at  Centennial  Hall — Tickets  for  sale  at  Centennial  Building. 

Relic  Department  at  Armory,  Putnam  street. 
United  States  Government  Exhibit  at  City  Hall. 


I4O  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


TUESDAY,  JULY  17—10  A.  M. 


MUSIC    BY    ELGIN    BAND. 

Senator  W.  T.  Wallace,  presiding. 

Judge  Loomis  (President  of  the  Centennial  Commission) 
announced  to  the  audience :  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  before 
presenting  to  you  the  gentleman  who  will  preside  over  the  de 
liberations  this  morning,  I  wish  to  explain  what  might  have 
seemed  to  be  an  unreasonable  delay  in  the  opening  of  the  doors. 
It  became  necessary  that  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  were  to 
perform  in  the  pageant  which  is  to  take  place  this  evening, 
should  have  an  additional  rehearsal,  and  they  were  compelled 
to  trespass  a  little  upon  the  time  at  which  the  doors  should 
have  been  opened. 

I  beseech  for  the  occasion  your  quiet  attention,  because 
this  is  a  very  large  room,  and  one  in  which  it  may  be  difficult 
for  speakers  to  make  themselves  heard. 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  the  Hon.  Mr. 
Wallace,  an  Ohio  Senator,  who  will  be  the  presiding  officer  for 
the  morning  exercises. 

Senator  Wallace  then  stepped  to  the  platform  and  said  : 
The  first  exercises  will  be  a  prayer  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hinsdale, 
recently  of  Ohio,  now  of  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan. 

PRAYER. 

We  bless  Thee,  Our  Father,  for  the  gift  of  this  glad,  bright  morning.  We 
thank  Thee  for  all  the  great  blessings  of  life  that  it  brings  us.  We  rejoice  in  the 
possession  of  those  powers  that  bind,  and  of  heart  that  enable  us  to  take  in  the 
.significance  and  the  meaning  of  this  occasion.  We  thank  Thee  for  the  occasion. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  14! 


We  bless  Thee  for  all  the  great  facts,  for  the  history,  for  all  the  memories,  for  all 
the  associations  and  for  all  the  life  that  collects  around  this  spot;  and  we  rejoice 
because  we  are  permitted  to  come  here  this  morning  to  this  place  of  appointment 
in  the  possession  of  all  our  faculties,  to  meditate  upon  the  things  that  are  behind 
us.  We  bless  Thee,  Oh  God,  for  the  great  commonwealths  that  are  represented 
on  this  occasion,  for  whom  it  has  a  larger  and  deeper  significance.  We  rejoice, 
because  we  are  in  possession  of  the  facts,  and  the  thoughts  that  have  molded 
their  past,  that  have  made  them  what  they  are  that  give  them  promise  for  the  on 
coming  future. 

We  ble  s  Thee  for  our  great  Union  of  States,  for  our  National  institutions, 
for  our  local  governments,  for  all  our  schools  and  churches,  and  affairs  of  civili 
zation  that  play  upon  our  people  and  mold  their  character  and  that  make  them 
what  they  are.  We  bless  Thee  for  this  great  assemblage,  and  we  pray  Thee  that 
its  significance  may  so  be  brought  to  our  minds  that  our  attention  may  be  directed 
to  the  lessons,  to  the  work,  to  the  duties,  to  the  responsibilities  of  the  future,  and 
that  as  these  affairs  molded  the  fathers  and  the  present  generation  for  their  work, 
so  the  younger  generation  represented  here  to-day,  and  the  generations  to  come, 
may  be  molded  for  the  work  before  them. 

Oh,  God,  enable  us  to  lay  hold  of  the  higher  significance,  of  the  deeper 
meaning,  of  the  loftier  aspirations  of  this  great  occasion  ;  and  to  this  end  we  ask 
Thee  to  bless  and  to  sanctify  all  of  its  exercises,  all  of  its  services ;  and  send  Thy 
grace  to  rest  upon  and  to  abide  with  this  assembly  and  all  that  are  called  upon 
to  perform  parts — the  parts  and  the  duties  of  public  administration  and  instruction 
upon  this  occasion.  And  grant  that  the  influences  and  the  instructions  that  may 
go  forth  from  this  place  and  from  this  time  may  be  felt  in  all  of  our  communities, 
in  all  of  our  societies,  as  uplifting  confidence  in  the  great,  endeavor  of  American 
life.  ( 

Oh,  God,  be  pleased  to  accept  our  thanksgiving,  and  to  hear  our  prayer  ad. '.I 
dressed  to  Thee  in  the  name  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.     Amen. 

; 

Hon.  W.  T.  Wallace,   of  Columbus,  Ohio,  then  said : 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  While  fully  realizing  the  honor 
conferred  by  your  Centennial  Commissioners  in  selecting  me 
to  preside  over  your  deliberations  this  morning,  and  highly  ap 
preciating  the  privilege  of  thus  participating  with  you  in  the 
commemoration  of  a  rounded  period  of  a  century  of  civil  gov 
ernment  in  the  Northwest  Territory,  it  will  hardly  be  expected 
that  the  presiding  officer,  before  introducing  the  distinguished 
gentleman  who  will  address  you,  will  delay  the  exercises  of 


142  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

the  hour  with  a  speech,  or  the  recital  of  historical  facts  and  in 
cidents  attending  the  early  settlements,  which  are  so  well  known 
to  this  multitude  of  liberty-loving  people.     Permit  me  to  re 
mark,  however,   that  this  beautiful  little  city  constituted  the 
gateway  to  the  great  Northwest,  and  through  which  marched 
the  millions  of  people  now  located  in  the  five  great  common 
wealths  Northwest  of  the  Ohio  River.     Not  only  that,  but  here 
were  found  the  sacred  fireside  homes,    from  which  emanated 
the  inspiration  of  moral  and   religious  sentiments  that  did  so 
much  in  building  up  our  free  institutions,  and  to  which  your  at 
tention  was  called  in  the  addresses  on  the  Sabbath  just  gone  by, 
in  this  hall  [applause]  ;  and  from  which  sprung  the  educational 
influences  and  agencies  that  constituted  the  foundation  stones 
of  a  government,  for  the  respective  States  carved  out  of  this 
Northwest   Territory,  identical  with    that  established  by  the 
fathers  of  the  Republic.      [Renewed  applause.]     A  government 
representative  in  its  character,  both  in  principle  and  of  trust — 
of  principle  inherent  in  Democracy,  and  of  trust  in  fidelity  to 
delegated  authority.     [Cheers.] 

Let  this  Celebration,  then,  be  a  reminder,  not  only  to  us, 
but  the  generations  that  follow  in  the  centuries  to  come,  that 
the  National  Constitution,  which  represents  our  ancient  glory, 
shall  stand  as  the  continued  expression  of  "the  freedom,  the 
sovereignty  and  the  rights  of  the  people,"  and  that  it  shall  ever 
be  the  institution  of  an  ampler  freedom  and  a  more  perfect  or 
ganization  of  human  rights  in  the  minds  and  the  hearts  of  the 
people,  by  whose  will  it  was  ordained  and  established ;  let  it 
never  become  the  mask  to  hide  from  the  ages  their  degeneracy^ 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  143 

nor  the  mausoleum,  which  shall  conceal  governmental  decay. 
[Renewed  cheering  ] 

I  do  not  propose  to  enter  upon  a  discussion  of  the  philoso 
phy  of  civil  government  and  human  progress,  nor  should  I 
claim  your  attention  further  ;  but  have  the  greater  privilege,  as 
well  as  pleasure,  of  now  introducing  to  you  an  orator  of  the 
occasion,  a  gentleman  of  honored  name  and  fame — profound 
in  scholarship,  eminent  as  a  jurist,  and  one  of  the  ablest  of  the 
greatest  of  American  statesmen — Hon.  William  M.  Evarts, 
United  States  Senator  from  New  York.  [Great  applause.] 


/\ddress   of  Senator  E^arts, 


OF  NEW  YORK. 


MR.  PRESIDENT,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN,  FELLOW-CITIZENS  OF  THE 
GREAT  NORTHWKST  :  I  esteemed  it  a  great  honor  when  the  committee  in  charge 
of  the  present  celebration  thought  that  I  might  contribute  some  part  to  filling 
out  the  great  renovation  of  Northwestern  feeling  by  sharing  in  this  week  of  a 
separate  devotion  of  your  hearts  and  your  feelings.  I  regarded  this  as  an  honor 
not  so  much  for  myself  as  from  a  feeling  on  the  part  of  {he  committee  and  the 
people  here,  who  imagined  that  while  New  England  and  Virginia  and  the  emi 
nent  men  of  those  great  States  that  are  founded  on  the  Northwestern  Territory 
had  themselves  all  borne  part  in  the  great  celebration  of  April,  and  that  the  State 
of  New  York — great  in  itself  and  in  connection  with  the  intermediate  Middle 
States  between  New  England  and  this  Western  country  and  their  population  that 
flowed  in  here  after  the  opening  of  the  settlement,  and  the  power  and  weight  of 
those  great  communities — might  well  be  desired  to  take  some  part,  some  share  in 
the  emblazonment  of  the  great  transaction  that  took  place  here. 

To  be  sure,  the  great  prosperity  and  splendor  of  the  celebration  of  April 
last  was  still  before  the  eyes  and  in  the  minds  of  the  people  of  this  great  country, 
had  revived,  had  ennobled,  had  inflamed,  we  might  almost  say,  great  sentiments 

10  C.  B. 


144  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


of  liberty  and  equality,  of  which  and  for  which  the  speakers  and  the  crowds  all 
thought  but  a  feeble  echo  of  the  great  trumpet-sound  given  from  but  few  breaths 
a  hundred  years  ago ;  but  the  great  traits  and  the  great  topics  of  this  first  opening 
to  the  attention  and  admiration  of  this  wide  country  of  the  events  and  the  actors 
in  the  settlement  of  the  great  Northwest  were  so  ably,  so  fully,  so  universally 
treated  by  the  successive  spokesmen  that  delighted  your  audience  three  months 
ago  have  not,  as  it  seems  to  me,  left  a  very  wide  or  a  much  unoccupied  portion 
of  thought  and  of  eloquence  for  the  present  day.  The  sole  distinction — the  sole 
distinctive  feature  for  the  separate  celebration  of  the  I5th  of  July  is  the  specific 
transaction  of  the  promulgation  of  civil  government  and  the  opening  of  the 
Courts,  a  sober,  a  quiet  and  an  unostentatious  presentation  of  that  day,  1  ut  in 
the  scrutiny  and  in  the  observations  and  in  the  instincts  of  our  American  people 
this  was  in  itself  a  wonderful  exhibition  of  the  natures,  courage  and  purposes,  and 
the  far-extended  forecasts  of  these  forerunners  of  this  immense  population,  and 
when — as  I  shall  hereafter  have  occasion  more  fully  to  insist  upon — the  great  fact 
exists  that  this  civil  Government,  in  all  its  virtues  and  in  all  its  power  that  was 
opened  on  the  edge  of  the  great  forest,  has  never  been  overthrown,  and  the 
Courts  of  justice  in  the  Northwestern  country  that  were  then  opened  have  never 
been  closed.  [Applause], 

The  publicists  have  the  distinction  and  the  definition  between  peace  and 
•war  that  it  is  when  the  laws  are  silent  and  the  courts  are  closed,  but  in  this  great 
region,  then  taken  possession  of  in  the  great  names  of  law  and  government,  their 
laws  have  never  been  silent  here,  and  their  courts  have  never  been  denied  jus 
tice.  [Applause]. 

But  I  think  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  eminent  authors  and  the  celebration 
of  April  have  filled  out  the  whole  sphere  of  illustration  and  the  whole  province 
of  history  that  go  to  expose,  illustrate  and  elevate  the  traits  of  mind,  the  heroism 
of  conduct,  the  civil  wisdom  and  prudence  of  the  first  settlers,  and,  so  far  as  I 
can  estimate,  they  have  left  not  a  stalk  for  the  gleaner,  not  a  word  for  wisdom, 
and  not  a  flower  for  rhetoric  that  can  amplify  and  elevate  or  animate  our  already 
full  admiration  and  full  estimation  of  the  founders  of  this  community.  [Applause]. 

No  doubt,  then,  t]ie  speaker  must  find  himself  somewhat  under  need  of  seek 
ing  a  new  line  of  observation  that  may  serve  to  enhance  or  emphasize  or  em 
bellish  the  woven  record  of  the  great  transaction  which  now,  even  in  the  splendid 
and  harmonious  colors  of  a  marvelous  tapestry,  is  before  your  eyes  and  your 
minds  as  a  picture  of  the  great  proceeding  and  the  great  moving  activities  which 
laid  the  foundations  of  these  Commonwealths.  I  turn  over  the  admirable  volume 
that  your  Archaeological  Society  has  produced  for  perpetuating  the  memory  and 
for  constant  attention,  the  proceedings  of  your  celebration.  I  have  attempted  in 
its  polished  panoply  of  religious,  of  civil,  of  political,  eminent  and  illustrious 
orators  to  find  some  spot  in  their  harness  that  I  could  penetrate. 

It  is  calculated  to  amaze,  and  I  have  found  it  in  no  respect  wanting.  I  must 
then  hope,  in  the  hour  that  I  am  expected  to  occupy,  to  devote  my  observations 
and  ask  your  attention  to  the  place  which  this  first  movement  of  population  to 
take  possession  of  these  tree-mounted  regions  in  the  provision  for  occupying  the 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  145 


whole  Northwestern  territory — the  place  which  this  occupies  in  the  still  larger 
movement  of  the  settlement  of  this  whole  great  country  of  ours  in  that  period 
that  preceded  this  movement  for  the  Western  occupation,  and  those  that  have 
followed  in  the  bloom  of  population  that  has  occupied  the  greater  regions,  all 
from  the  first  step  of  the  landing  at  Plymouth  to  the  occupation  of  San  Francisco, 
filling  out  this  vast  region,  filled  with  this  immense  population  that  now  repre 
sents  the  territory  and  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

Who  has  claimed  to  have  penetrated  the  councils  of  the  Almighty  by  which 
either  the  Government,  the  disposition  of  this  great  belt  from  the  Pacific  to  the 
Atlantic  ocean,  before  the  veil  between  Europe  and  America  was  rent  asunder  by 
the  Genoese  discoverer?  That  this  great  territory  had  for  ages  been  fit,  in  all 
natural  deductions,  for  the  happy  homes  of  the  most  civilized,  the  most  cultivated 
people  that  the  earth  had  ever  produced,  all  this  vacant  period  of  time  is  unques 
tionable,  and  that  before  the  people  and  the  movement  of  our  population  this 
great  space  for  the  happiness  and  the  discipline  and  the  elevation  of  our  educated, 
cultivated  race  was  opened  to  them.  This  whole  region,  in  every  large  and 
practical  sense,  .was  a  vacant  possession,  to  make  no  count  of  the  secular  order  of 
the  great  movements  for  the  occupation  and  possession  of  this  land,  the  scattered, 
the  rude,  the  unnurtered  children  of  nature,  all  the  wild  possessors  of  this  land, 
if-  they  possessed  it  in  any  sense  before.  None  can  fail  to  see  how  great  a  thing 
it  was  for  us  that  we  were  to  bring  religion  and  law  and  justice  and  liberty  and 
all  the  great  moralities  of  life  to  fill  out  from  a  feeble  concourse  of  settlers  these 
wide  regions,  that  there  was  no  need  of  war,  of  ruin  and  desolation  in  other  races 
to  make  room  for  us.  But  after  the  descent  of  Europe  upon  America,  to  human 
wisdom  it  would  seem  almost  an  inscrutable  problem  how  these  vast  regions, 
away  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  were  to  keep  these  vacant  possessions  free 
from  the  ambitions  of  other  European  nations,  and  from  the  occupation  and  in 
fusion  of  other  ideas,  of  other  historical  and  other  prophetic  purposes  of  these 
feebler  settlers  on  the  narrow  strip  of  the  Atlantic. 

I  think,  with  your  intelligence  and  patience,  I  may,  with  a  rapid  glance, 
show  how,  somewhat,  this  population,  these  movements  of  population,  were  thus 
adequate  for  the  possession  left  vacant,  and  how  great  and  powerful  motives  that 
influenced  the  minds  and  the  zeal  of  the  populations  on  the  rim  of  the  Atlantic 
pressed  forward  to  the  occupation  of  the  shores  of  the  Western  sea — and  what  a 
wide  region  this  is  that  we  now  possess  and  have  subdued  for  one  people  that  we 
should  be  able  to  look  out  of  the  windows  of  our  habitation  on  the  flaming  horses 
of  the  sun  when  they  rise  from  the  implacable  Atlantic  until  they  cool  their  fires 
in  the  smooth  waves  of  the  Pacific  — how  great  a  portion,  ho\v  great  a  scale  of 
divine  wisdom  and  benevolence  within  the  brief  record,  absolute  and  clear,  and 
how  all  this  was  brought  about  within  the  narrow  bounds  of  260  years  since  the 
landing  of  the  pilgrims  and  the  present  day,  and  between  one  hundred  years  in 
the  first  brave  crossing  of  the  Ohio  by  the  settlers  here  and  the  days  and  the 
weeks  that  you  so  gratefully  settled  here. 

To  the  ordinary  circumstances  in  the  first  settlements  of  the  Atlantic  shore, 
as  often  noted  by  philosophers  and  welcomed  by  statesmen,  is  to  be  added  that 


146  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF     THE 


strange  fact  that  when  the  firs  vessel  that  was  to  land  the  last  and  greatest  pro 
duct  of  Western  Europe  and  our  civilization  at  the  same  time,  a  little  vessel  put 
from  Africa  laden  with  the  most  abject  condition  of  humanity,  and  laden  with 
the  seeds  for  the  disposition  of  slavery  on  this  land  of  ours.  These  seed-bearing 
vessels  were  both  upon  the  ocean  at  the  same  time,  and  I  put  it  to  your  intelli 
gent  comprehension  and  construction  that  from  that  time  to  the  present  that  ele 
ment  infused  by  the  importation  of  Africans  and  African  slavery  has  borne  a 
large,  sometimes,  it  would  seem  almost  an  overwhelming  share,  in  the  dispensa 
tions  that  Providence  was  planning  for  this  continent. 

Let  me  then  ask  your  attention  to  one,  at  least,  of  the  great  consequences  of 
the  great  influences  that  the  existence  of  these  so  widely  separated  situations  of 
human  life  and  human  motives  set  at  work  in  1620  on  this  great  continent  by 
that  Wisdom  with  which  a  sparrow  never  falls  to  the  ground  without  His  notice, 
It  is  vain  to  say  that  this  was  altogether  a  thwarting  and  a  disappointment  to  the 
great  projects  of  our  human  wisdom  in  regard  to  this  arrangement  of  the  burdens 
and  the  duties  of  the  men  and  women  that  were  to  grow  up  in  this  noble,  un 
peopled  continent.  , 
You  will  observe  that  the  first  condition  for  the  triumphant,  incessant  move 
ment,  with  no  steps  backward,  if  it  was  to  carry  with  it  the  virtues  and  the  ener 
gies,  the  moral  and  religious  traits  of  the  first  European  settlers  on  our  Atlantic 
shore,  there  must  be  some  arrangement  by  which  these  feeble  and  few  planters, 
who  for  a  long  period  retained  the  elements  of  character  and  of  progress  and  of 
triumph,  left  clear.  So,  for  a  long  period  of  time — one  hundred  and  fifty  years — 
the  first  problem  that  I  ask  your  attention  to  is  this :  How  this  virtue  and  force 
was  to  be  kept  separate  and  undiluted  by  the  influx  of  other  races  and  other  mo 
tives,  for  numbers  will  tell  upon  every  community,  and  it  may  be  overborne  in  its 
strongest  growth  if  it  is  suffocated  by  weeds  that  suck  its  virtue. 

Now,  how  is  this  to  be  kept  from  the  ambitions  of  other  European  nations 
and  of  other  settlers  under  motives  of*  the  more  ordinary  and  commonplace  at 
tractions  to  the  human  conduct  ?  Besides  that,  what  was  to  keep  the  Northern 
settlers  on  their  rigorous  shores  from  following  down,  and,  under  the  invitation 
of  softer  climes  and  more  generous  soil,  from  leaving  behind  these  virtues  of  the 
hills  and  of  the  storms  of  the  winters  and  of  the  ungrateful  soil,  that  were 
thought  to  be  far  from  the  benignant  smiles  of  Providence,  but  were  the  most 
benignant  smiles  that  were  ever  shed  upon  this  great  Nation  of  ours?  [Applause]. 
It  took  this  long  tutelage  and  instruction  with  the  mind  and  the  heart.  Obe 
dience  to  duty  and  the  preservation  of  faith,  and  of  religion,  were  enough  for 
a  people  who  with  their  iron  nerves  and  their  lion  hearts  were  to  be  developed 
to  deal  with  these  hard  problems  of  human  nature  and  of  the  natural  environ 
ment,  but  when  they  had  grown  to  a  moderate  volume  of  population  they  were 
adequate  to  encounter  in  the  name  of  religion  and  justice  the  whole  world.  [Ap 
plause].  What  did  prevent  this  large  dilution  of  our  own  population,  and  what 
kept  out  from  the  tempting  eyes  of  other  Nations  and  of  other  motives,  the  oc 
cupation  of  this  ritn  of  the  Atlantic  ? 

Why,  fellow-citizens,  it  was  the  institution  of  slavery  that  kept  this  a  vacant 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  147 


possession  until  the  sinews  and  strength  of  the  North  had  grown  to  enter  into 
competition  for  the  possession  of  the  far  unseen,  unsurveyed,  uncounted  region 
that  we  now  occupy.  This  little  rim,  where  slave  labor  had  made  its  home  on 
the  lower  half  of  the  Atlantic  shore,  kept  Europeans  from  settling  there,  with  the 
Northern  notions  of  liberty  and  the  dignity  of  labor.  And  this  kept  our  North 
ern  people  from  sliding  down  into  these  Southern  regions  to  lose  their  virtues 
and  the  dignity  of  labor  under  the  seductions  of  a  laboring  caste  and  an  ample 
and  generous  and  affluent  soil.  [Applause]. 

Now,  as  this  population  slowly  increased  on  this  Atlantic  Coast — these  two- 
civilizations  united  under  motives  of  the  highest  importance  and  of  the  most  in 
destructible  traits  of  the  human  mind — it  set  aside,  for  the  time,  all  this  discrimi 
nation,  so  wide  and  deep,  that  1  have  noticed,  and  for  liberty  and  for  indepen 
dence,  equally  dear  and  equally  loved  by  the  North  and  the  South.  By  the  Revo 
lution  and  by  our  own  secured  independence,  we  were  then  the  masteis,  for  the 
first  time,  of  the  question  of  how  this  Atlantic  strip  should  be  occupied  and  how 
organized  and  arranged  when  the  time  should  come  that  we  should  move  abreast, 
as  it  were,  although  we  did  not  foresee  the  length  of  our  march,  to  occupy  this 
wide  land  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Now,  we  all  know,  in  making  this  first  movement  to  cross  the  Alleghenies 
and  to  fill  these  vast  regions,  the  controlling,  the  mastering  question  was  of 
slavery.  How  wisely  it  was  adjusted  !  And  yet,  how  it  might  have  seemed  that 
it  was  an  unnecessary  stage  in  our  future  progress,  that  the  dividing  and  com 
peting  interests  of  labor,  the  dignity  of  labor  and  of  slavery,  and  the  debasement 
of  labor  must  carry  on  their  controversy  under  the  shelter  of  this,  as  it  then  be 
came,  the  eastern  boundary  for  our  people  here. 

Let  us  look  at  it  for  a  moment.  We  can  all,  as  we  think,  at  least,  be  wiser 
after  the  plans  of  Providence  are  more  fully  shown  and  developed,  than  when 
we  suppose  that  our  wisdom  and  our  foresight  are  a  share  and  a  prophecy  of  its 
purposes.  Take  the  proposition  of  these  New  England  settlers  that  were  coming 
here.  Their  great  proposition  was  this  :  That  they  would  not  come  here  until 
their  institutions  were  complete  and  assured.  [Applause].  They  knew  what 
land  and  labor  were,  but  laml  and  labor  for  our  ancestors  meant  liberty  and  labor, 
justice  and  dignity  of  the  great  body  of  the  people.  [Cheers  and  applause]. 

They  could  not  stir  to  come  here  on  any  calculations  of  the  prosperity  in 
their  common  affairs  until  these  institutions  were  both  complete  and  assured. 
But  when  they  were  made  perpetual  and  absolutely  firm,  so  long  as  the  power  of 
the  old  States  should  endure,  and  so  long  as  the  compacted  faith  of  these  com 
munities  should  be  capable  of  performance,  see  how  the  grand  conception,  how 
the  consummated  wisdom,  how  the  powerful  mastery  of  this  great  movement  of 
a  handful  of  men  had  thus  insisted  upon  the  conditions. 

Mr.  Jefferson  had  proposed  in  1784 — and  a  large  part  of  the  States  in  the 
Continental  Congress  followed  that  suggestion,  though  it  was  never  completed — 
that  after  1800,  only  sixteen  years  afterward,  slavery  should  be  excluded  from  all 
the  territory  west  of  the  Aileghenies  by  a  line  north  and  south  at  the  base  of  these 
mountains  from  the  Spanish  line  of  Florida  up  to  Canada —  a  great  and  magnifi- 


REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


cent  proposition  that  might  seem  itself  to  have  been  a  wider  and  more  benevolent 
provision  than  that  which  was  afterwards  instrumental  in  securing  to  free  labor 
only  part  of  the  Northwest.  But  with  these  well  disciplined  and  thoughtful  men 
they  said,  "We  will  take  no  chances  for  twelve  years ;  now  with  us  is  the  accepted 
time.  Now  is  the  day  of  salvation."  And  was  it  not  the  day  of  salvation  for 
this  great  Northwest  and  for  this  greater  people  that  now  from  one  end  of  it  to 
the  other  knows  not  a  slave  [applause],  and  has  maintained  the  dignity  of  labor 
already  in  its  fullest  sense  over  three-fourths  of  our  population,  and  by  the  will 
of  God  intends  that  the  dignity  of  labor  shall  be  maintained  over  every  inch  of 
it  ?  [Tremendous  applause]. 

So  that  the  Puritan  New  Englanders  were  not  to  be  enveloped  by  this  misty 
promise  of  a  greater  benefit  twelve  years  after.  They  knew  that  a  tide  of  popu 
lation  would  follow  them.  They  knew  that  all  motives  of  the  more  common 
nature  would  then  attract  and  dilute  the.population  of  these  n6W  free,  unoccupied 
regions.  They  knew  that.  They  knew  that  if  there  was  one  universal  rule  of 
future  liberty  they  would  have  to  fight  for  the*  whole  of  that,  whether  it  might 
not  be  the  sphere  and  scene  of  future  slavery  over  us  all. 

But  if  this  great  provision  were  made  for  them  they  trusted  that  their  own 
hands  and  their  own  hearts,  and  the  surveillance  of  Providence  that  had  brought 
them  from  Europe  to  the  Atlantic  shore  would  attend  them  if  they  held  faith  to 
human  nature  and  to  human  duty  before  they  enjoyed  the  sphere  of  their  exer 
cise.  [Applause.]  And  so  it  was  arranged  that  we  should  come  here  and  for 
ever  should  be  freed  from  any  contract  or  any  infusion  with  the  disbasement  of 
laborer  the  exercise  of  unholy  oppression.  [Cheers].  They  thought — and  they 
were  right — that,  although  they  anticipated  that  the  settlement  would  be  of  fre 
quent,  of  numerous  followers,  that  the  constitution  and  the  laws  and  the  solemn 
promise  of  the  whole  Atlantic  States,  North  and  South,  slave  and  free,  that  faith 
should  be  kept  for  this  territory,  they  were  as  safe  as  it  was  ever  for  human  nature 
to  find  in  its  own  infirmities  adequate  protection. 

Now,  let  me  call  your  attention  to  the  importance  that  was  soon  indicated  to 
the  great  and  too-arduous  effort  to  subdue  the  two  lines  of  climate  and  of  popu 
lation  at  once  on  one  side  of  these  mountains,  while  on  the  other  the  partition 
was  to  continue  between  slavery  and  freedom.  Even  with  the  ordinance  and 
even  with  the  firm  boundaries,  movements  began  a  relaxation  of  slavery  for  the 
old  French  settlers  ;  and  then,  that  more  people  might  come  in  on  the  southern 
border  and  in  the  overflow  from  Virginia,  that  there  might  be  a  relaxation  in 
point  of  time  from  the  observance  of  this  inexorable  condition  of  the  Northwest 
Ordinance. 

They  were  rejected,  and  then  again — again  let  me  show  you — began  a  com 
petition  between  two  civilizations  that  should  press  their  competing  columns 
under  different  motives  and  under  rivalries  until  they  should  reach  the  Mississippi 
with  ihe  occupation  by  the  people — for  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  then  finally 
for  the  Pacific  Sea.  And  see  whether,  in  the  wisdom  of  Providence,  it  might  be 
foreseen  that  two  columns  pressing  north  too  rapidly,  and  before  other  nations 
could  step  in,  we  secured  this  wide  belt  that  should  have  its  natural  boundaries 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       149 


in  the  two  great  oceans,  and  the  political  boundaries  of  nations  that  are  safe  to 
us  as  neighbors. 

Now,  observe  what  a  vast  stretch  there  was  for  population  to  plant  and  ex 
tend  westward  from  the  Ohio  River.  John  Randolph  said  that  there  would  not 
be  a  settler  on  the  Mississippi  River  from  this  movement  of  our  population  in  one 
hundred  years.  All  their  own  people,  anticipating  only  the  slower  movements  of 
plantation  and  growth  on  the  Atlantic,  were  moderate,  were  temperate,  were 
sober  in  their  estimate,  and  yet,  in  sixty-two  years  from  crossing  the  Ohio,  these 
people  of  ours  were  in  full  possession  of  the  Pacific  Coast  and  of  all  intermediate 
regions.  Sixty-two  years  filled  the  prairies  and  hewed  down  the  forests,  had  oc 
cupied  the  vast  spaces  up  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and,  circumnavigating  the 
continent,  made  their  descent  on  the  Western  coast. 

So  much  for  the  wonders,  and  the  wisdom  that  Providence  was  going  to  dis 
play  before  these  trusting  people  that  had  held  on  with  both  hands  in  poverty 
and  in  weakness,  and  in  their  strength  of  faith  in  God,  and  love  of  man.  [Ap 
plause].  Now,  by  the  disposition  by  which  a  line  of  demarcation  was  drawn  be 
tween  slavery  and  free  labor,  by  circumscribing  the  northwest  boundary  for  free 
dom,  played  on  the  movements  and  ambitions  of  our  population,  and  our  inter 
ests  in  this  great  strife  across  the  Atlantic.  Observe  the  great  difference  in  the 
interests,  the  influences,  and  the  movements  of  slavery  in  the  occupation  of  vacant 
spaces,  and  the  northern  people. 

Slavery  is  a  great,  a  remorseless  coveter  of  new  lands — reckless  and  wasteful 
of  the  land  that  it  gets,  but  with  an  eager  eye  for  the  possession  of  new  land  that 
it  may  be  reckless  and  wasteful  again.  [Applause].  Whereas  our  Northern 
labor  meant  to  possess  and  enjoy  and  subdue,  making  the  wilderness  to  blossom 
as  the  rose,  as  it  went  on  and  sparing  its  superfluous  tide  only  after  these  spaces 
were  reasonably  occupied  and  possessed ;  we  had  the  greater  tide  of  people,  but 
the  South  the  greater  and  dominating  power  of  occupying  great  spaces  that  were 
to  be  filled  up  some  time  or  other. 

Now,  see  how  every  principle  went  to  work — all  looking  one  way — toward 
carrying  our  people  across  this  continent  with  as  great  strides  as  possible.  We 
meant  for  labor  and  freedom.  The  South  meant  for  slavery  and  abject  labor,  and 
for  the  power  of  the  Constitution  and  for  the  mighty  mass  of  defensive  war  that 
belonged  to  this  great  country  of  ours,  each  competing  that  the  whole  country 
should  belong  to  it.  And  now  see,  how  the  South  pressed  on  with  these  covetous 
strides,  and  we  at  the  North,  all  held  back  opposed  that  movement,  deeming  it 
limited  entirely  by  the  present  inquiry,  of  which  interest  and  which  civilization 
should  predominate  for  a  time. 

It  was  coveted  for  slavery,  and  when  Texas  was  annexed  without  the  con 
sent  of  its  parent  State,  as  it  was  called,  Mexico,  the  war  then  went  on  and  took 
for  us,  as  we  had  already  got  by  peaceable  purchase,  the  Louisiana  possession.  It 
took  all  the  rest  of  this  great  belt  of  ours  with  hardly  anybody  in  it,  and  cer 
tainly  no  powers  of  institutions  that  should  thwart  or  oppose  or  infect  or  enfeeble 
our  movements. 


I5O  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


And  thus  this  stride  of  population  of  the  North  that  would  occupy  and  enjoy 
and  ennoble  and  make  happy,  was  reinforced  by  an  immense  tide  of  industry 
from  impoverished  Europe  and  impoverished  Ireland,  and  that  gave  us  what  we 
wanted — a  volume  of  free  labor  and  of  freedom-loving  people  that  could  make 
our  strides  keep  apace  with  this  remorseless  and  covetous  appetite  of  the  South. 
[Applause]. 

And  thus  we  must  balance  these  States  with  the  slave  Slates,  but  we  got 
them  both  for  our  country.  We  had  to  struggle  to  get  or  to  oppose  Texas;  to 
sustain  or  oppose  the  Mexican  War,  and  to  covet  or  to  reject  the  immense  terri 
tories  that  filled  out  this  great  belt.  But,  nevertheless,  we  got  it  all.  We  got  it 
for  America,  and  we  got  it  for  the  Uniied  States.  And  then,  mark  the  trans 
cendent,  the  crowning  benevolence  of  Providence,  that,  when  this  temporary 
struggle  was  ended,  and  the  ocean  was  on  our  west,  slavery  was  abolished  ;  and 
it  has  bought  all  free  with  our  labor,  our  institutions,  our  faith,  our  duty,  our 
promises,  and  our  hopes  for  the  entire  region.  [Cheers]. 

There  is  a  maxim  which  I  heard  in  my  country  home  some  years  ago  when 
I  was  making  a  new  road  in  the  old  one,  and  everybody  was  criticising  it  and 
finding  fault  with  it ;  I  was  told  by  one  of  the  workmen  that  there  was  a  maxim 
up  there,  that  no  work  in  progress  should  be  seen  by  fools  or  children.  [Laughter 
and  applause].  Let  us,  to  the  greater  transactions  of  Providence,  now  apply  this 
lesson  of  reverence  for  His  great  and  benevolent  designs  and  humility  for  us,  that 
two  great  discoveries  were  imposed  upon  us — too  great  for  us,  too  great  for  any 
proportionate  advantage  that  might  be  expected.  But  when  all  was  rounded  by 
the  Pacific  Ocean  possessions  we  could  then  see  that  the  plan  completed  was  one 
worthy  of  our  sufferings,  our  disgrace,  our  humiliations,  and  even  the  great  war 
that  consolidated  in  ideas  and  in  duties  what  thus  had  been  gained  in  prosperity 
and  struggle.  [Applause]. 

Now  let  us  look  a  little  more  directly  at  the  very  greatness  of  this  transaction 
of  the  first  settlers  here.  I  have  told  you  the  conditions  on  which  they  demanded 
the  security  of  their  homes  and  the  fortunes  of  their  posterity.  Now,  how  great 
it  was  for  them.  They  were  to  stand  on  the  edge  of  a  trackless  and  unmeasured 
solitude.  They  were  determined  that  they  would  have  their  institutions  as  wide 
and  as  firmly  fitted  together  as  the  framework  of  their  natural  homes  that  they 
were  to  visit.  If  this  temple,  if  this  region  which  they  took  possession  of  for 
religion  and  the  law,  for  liberty  and  justice,  were  already  framed  and  built  up  in 
this  wilderness — a  temple  not  made  with  hands,  but  wrought  out  by  the  most 
exalted  and  most  imperishable  principles  of  human  nature — if  they  found  this 
temple  already  consecrated,  with  whatever  motives  they  came  here,  with  what 
ever  love  of  prosperity  and  improving  their  condition  there  might  be,  how  vari 
able  their  motives,  how  discordant  their  fancies,  how  commonplace  their  motives; 
if  they  found  this  firm  structure  here,  they  would  accept  it  in  their  new  homes  as 
if  it  were  incorporated  with  the  natural  climate  and  the*  natural  soil  that  they 
were  to  occupy  and  treat  this  noble  structure  as  indestructible  and  perpetual,  as 
much  the  work  of  the  Great  Artificer  as  the  sweet  influences  of  the  Pleiades  or 
the  bands  of  Orion.  And  they  were  right.  No  one  has  raised  his  successf  u 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL  'CELfeBRATION 


hand  against  the  rupture  of  one  stone  in  the  foundation  or  one  noble  column  of 
the  pillars  that  uphold  the  dome.  No.  It  is  ours  to-day,  as  pure,  as  strong,  as 
clear  in  the  sight  of  man  and  God  as  it  was  when  these  seed-bearers  of  civiliza 
tion  first  stood  on  the  banks  of  the  Muskingum. 

We  see  now  the  difference  between  material  prosperity  and  material  power 
and  wealth.  Those  who  came  here  had  nothing  of  either,  and  the  people  that 
they  left  on  the  other  side  of  the  Alleghanies  had  but  little  more  ;  but  they  had 
a  possession  which  no  cluster  of  or  confederacy  of  the  human  race  had  ever 
possessed  before,  the  predominance  of  man  over  his  circumstances,  and  the  na 
ture  was  given  by  the  good  God  to  be  subdued  by  Him,  but  not  by  Him  to  be 
subdued  by  them.  Who  will  wonder  at  this  wide,  this  dazzling  blazonry  of 
wealth,  of  population  and  of  power  ;  who  will  ever  doubt  that  the  cultivation  of 
the  hearts  and  minds  of  men  is  the  best  and  first  care  of  Providence  and  the  best 
and  first  interests  of  human  society  ?  [Applause]. 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  these  great  principles  of  the  ordinance,  with  the 
exception  of  the  exclusion  of  slavery,  furnished  the  basis  and  the  medium  of  all 
the  other  new  movements  that  came  within  our  comprehension  under  the  Loui 
siana  possession,  or  were  then  a  part  of  our  territory.  When  Sergeant  became  the 
Governor  of  Mississippi  —  and  there  all  these  great  ideas  were  planted,  except  the 
exclusion  of  slavery  —  so,  too,  Louisiana,  Minnesota  and  Dakota  came  in,  and  all 
these  great  regions  are  all  planted  with  everything  now  of  the  Northwest  Terri 
tory,  because  slavery  is  no  longer  a  line  of  partition.  [Applause]. 

But  let  us  understand,  then,  what  our  duties  are.  Duties  of  settlement,  du 
ties  of  warfare,  duties  of  poverty,  duties  of  hard  labor,  struggling  with  nature, 
are  no  longer  the  ennobling  and  strengthening  influences  under  which  our  popu 
lation  is  now  extending  itself.  The  question  is,  what  has  thus  been  nurtured, 
what  has  been  developed  in  the  gristle  and  is  now  found  in  the  bone;  how  will  it 
last  when  all  these  aids  and  helps  of  Providence  are  by  our  own  prospering  and 
His  benignity  no  longer  before  us? 

But  justice  and  truth,  religion  and  law  are  large  enough  to  go  around  the 
whole  human  race.  [Cheers].  They  are  deep  and  wide  and  firm  enough  to  mold 
and  elevate  and  civilize  and  Christianize  wealth  as  well  as  poverty.  But  each 
generation,  in  its  own,  must  understand  its  duties  and  its  share  in  the  great  pro 
gress  with  which  Providence  leads  us  onward,  or  we  shall  not  be  long  actuated 
to  a  higher  and  nobler  civilization  ;  but  some  new  and  better  soil,  some  new  and 
better  harvest,  some  stronger  and  more  courageous  wills  must  be  found  to  build 
up  the  glory  intended  for  the  redemption  of  our  race  ;  but  let  us  know  how  easy 
it  is  now  to  hold  to  the  ancient  past,  pursue  the  same  energetic  movements  and 
courage  that  has  attended  us  thus  far;  and  let  us  feel  that  in  our  generation, 
when  the  shock  of  armies  and  the  struggles  between  kinsmen  and  countrymen 
came.  If  the  question  was  the  dignity  or  the  debasement  of  labor,  we  were  will 
ing  to  drench  the  ground  with  fraternal  blood  that  fraternal  love  might  spring 
out  of  every  inch  of  our  territory.  [Cheers]. 

Justice,  equality  —  these  are  large  enough  for  our  growing  population  and 
our  swelling  wealth. 


152  REPORT   OF   THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF   THE 


It  is  said,  Mr.  President,  that  in  the  pious  and  magnificent  structures  of  the 
great  temples  of  the  Mohammedan  faith  the  indestructible  and  infinitely  divisible 
fragrance  of  the  altar  of  roses  was  mixed  by  the  builders  with  the  mortar  with 
which  they  held  together  the  shapely  structure,  and  ever  since  annually  ten 
thousand  worshipers  have  worn  the  stone  pavement  of  the  structure  for  a  hun 
dred  generations,  and  yet  find  their  prayers  still  imbued  with  the  undying  fra 
grance  of  this  unexhausted  and  inexhaustible  perfume.  [Applause]. 

These  great  masses  of  wealth,  and  of  population  and  of  power — this  structure 
that  our  fathers  built  and  we  occupy,  is  but  the  assemblage  of  the  great  material 
structure  that  built  up  to  the  visible  eye  a  temple.  But  the  cement  that  holds  it 
all  together  is  perfumed  by  the  great  virtues  and  the  sweet  influences  of  the  men 
and  the  women  that  laid  this  moral  structure.  Let  us  never  lose  that  perfume, 
for  if  we  do,  that  cement  will  crumble  and  the  structure  be  destroyed.  [Tre 
mendous  applause]. 


AFTERNOON  SESSION— July  17,  1888— 2  o'clock. 


Hon.  J.  W.  Dunlap,  of  Michigan,  presiding. 

Gov.  Foraker,  in  calling  the  meeting  to  order,  said : 
LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :     Hon.  J.  W.  Belknap,  of  Michi 
gan,  will  be  the  presiding  officer  this  afternoon:     I   have  now 
the  honor  of  presenting  him  to  you.     [Applause.] 

Hon.  J.  W.  Belknap,  of  Michigan,  then  said : 
i 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :     Illinois  and  Michigan  greet  you 

to-day.  In  looking  over  this  audience,  and  remembering  the 
occasion  that  brings  us  together,  I  feel  my  soul  inspired  ;  but 
also  remembering  that  we  have  two  eminent  gentlemen  with  us 

• 

to-day,  who  will  address  you  in  behalf  of  the  respective  States 
of  Michigan  and  Illinois,  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  take  your 
time  or  theirs,  with  any  remarks  of  my  own. 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       153 

We  will,  therefore,  begin  the  programme  of  the  afternoon 
at  once. 

The  first  thing  in  order  is  Music  by  the  Elgin  Band. 

After  music  by  the  Elgin  Band,  Mr.  Belknap  said  : 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  pre 
senting  to  you  Hon.  Lewis  G.  Palmer,  of  Michigan,  who  will 
address  you  in  behalf  of  the  interests  of  Michigan  in  this  Cele 
bration. 


Address  of  Hor\.  LeWis  Q.  Calmer, 


OF  MICHIGAN. 


MR.  CHAIRMAN,  AND  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  I  do  not  expect,  and  I 
scarcely  dare  hope,  that  this  vast  audience  will  give  patient  attention  to  what  I 
may  say,  after  having  listened  to  such  splendid  eloquence  from  our  nation's 
grandest  orators  and  statesmen. 

To-day  we  stand  upon  no  party  platform  ;  no  measure  to  adopt  or  defeat  by 
party  vote,  but  bowing  beneath  the  same  flag,  in  holy  reverence  to  the  same  God, 
we  meet  as  American  citizens,  free-born  and  independent,  [applause]  and  while 
I,  the  poor  medium  through  which  my  State  speaks  to  you,  have  been  called  to 
stand  before  this  audience  of  culture,  intelligence  and  refinement,  I  am  only  en 
couraged  to  proceed  by  the  grandeur  of  the  surroundings.  When  I  look  into 
the  faces  of  my  friends  and  neighbors,  over  whose  heads,  many  of  them,  seventy 
winters  have  cast  their  snows ;  when  I  behold  the  happy  glow  of  kindness 
lighting  up  your  features,  I  feel  that  we  are  indeed  brothers  of  that  same  great 
American  family,  actuated  by  the  same  grand  purposes,  urged  on  by  the  same 
noble  endeavors,  and  for  that  reason,  I  find  my  embarrassment  falling  harmlessly 
to  my  feet.  You  have  not  come  to  criticise,  but  to  eulogize,  not  me  or  my  effort, 
but  the  grand  and  holy  occasion  that  brings  us  together  as  by  magic. 

No  State  lines  nor  party  lines  can  divide  us.  Above  the  roar  and  din  of 
political  machinery  I  can  hear  the  glad  chorus  of  union ;  I  can  see  the  flag — that 
union,  the  union  of  the  State — and  that  flag,  the  star  spangled  banner.  [Renewed 
applause.]  "One  country  and  one  flag,"  is  the  National  watchword  adopted  by 
the  grandest  organization  this  side  of  heaven,  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 


154  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


And  as  the  thinning  ranks  are  passing  in  final  grand  review,  let  America's  loyal 
millions  throng  their  line  of  march  with  words  of  welcome  and  praise.  [Cheer 
ing.] 

I  speak  to-day  of  the  grand  foundation  of  human  liberty.  If  you  catch 
glimpses  of  Michigan's  history  as  I  hurry  through,  it  is  but  the  sparkling  gems 
thrown  off  of  this  brilliant  center.  My  Michigan  is  your  Michigan  ;  your  Ohio 
is  mine.  [Renewed  cheering.]  We  are  all  children  of  America.  The  mother 
country,  compelled  to  acknowledge  our  independence,  cannot  but  look  with  pride 
upon  the  progress  of  her  child,  free  and  independent ;  second  to  no  Nation  on 
the  face  of  this  globe.  As  was  the  father  of  his  country,  "  first  in  war,  first  in 
peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,"  so  is  America,  first  among  the 
Nations  of  the  earth.  [Applause].  And  while  we  thank  God  for  a  Washington, 
who  gave  us  a  home,  let  us  bow  to  him  in  everlasting  gratitude  for  an  Abraham 
Lincoln,  who  "  kept  and  preserved  us  a  Nation."  [Renewed  applause.]  Only 
with  his  life  did  he  give  up  the  struggle.  He  guarded  the  Ship  of  State  faith 
fully  through  the  dark  days  of  rebellion,  and  landed  it  safely  at  the  cost  of  his 
noble  life.  Let  his  name  tremble  upon  your  lips  in  your  every  prayer.  Boys  and 
girls,  hold  your  little  flags  higher  than  you  ever  held  them  before ;  kiss  their 
folds  as  you  unfold  them  to  the  breeze;  be  better  citizens  because  Lincoln  lived 
and  Lincoln  died.  [Continued  applause.] 

He  established  the  fact  in  this  country  that  slavery  cannot  exist  in  a  land 
ordained  ior  free  institutions.  Under  your  sacred  ordinance  it  could  not  exist. 

He  established  the  further  fact  that  when  your  ordinance  says  that  this  North 
west  Territory  was  to  forever  remain  a  part  and  parcel  of  the  United  States,  there 
could  be  no  secession  ;  no  rebellion  ;  no  flag  save  the  flag  of  the  Union.  This  is 
no  idle  parade,  but  a  grand  outpouring  of  holy  patriotic  sentiment  and  spirit. 

While  State  lines  and  county  lines  may  divide  the  territory  of  the  Nation 
into  States  and  sections,  they  cannot  divide  the  common  sentiment  and  loyal 
thoughts  and  purposes  of  the  people  who  make  up  a  common  union  ;  a  union  of 
States ;  a  union  of  hearts ;  a  union  of  hands.  [Applause.]  Let  there  then  be 
more  union  of  the  people.  Party  lines,  to-day,  fall  beneath  my  feet,  and  I  can 
only  see  those  dearer  lines  of  union  that  are  pictured- on  my  country's  flag  ;  every 
star  a  State,  and  every  stripe  a  bond  of  union.  [Renewed  applause.]  Let  there 
be  more  public  policy  ;  more  patriotism  and  less  politics,  and  if  the  time  shall 
ever  come  when  my  country  must  again  defend  its  honor,  its  institutions  or  its 
flag,  the  government  will  be  all  right  in  the  hands  of  the  common  loyal  people. 
[More  applause.] 

To-day  we  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  as  Americans.  Democrats,  Republi 
cans,  Prohibitionists,  my  countrymen  of  all  parties,  you  ^  point  with  pride  to  a 
common  ancestry,  a  united,  liberty-loving  people. 

What,  then,  is  the  principle  upon  which  we  are  building  ?  There  is  but  one 
principle  underlying,  going  through  and  forming  a  part  of  the  foundation  upon 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       155 


which  the  States  are  built.  What  is  it  ?  Freedom  for  every  man,  woman  and 
child  within  her  borders.  And  when  any  party  so  draws  its  lines  as  to  trample 
or  trespass  upon  the  rights  of  any  human  being  that  walks  the  face  of  God's 
green  earth,  may  that  party  perish  and  sink  into  everlasting  oblivion,  whether 
your  party  or  mine.  [Applause.] 

As  I  said,  I  cannot  speak  of  the  history  of  Michigan  without  speaking  of 
the  Northwest  Territory,  and  even  that  is  connected  with  the  history  of  the  con 
tinent.  It  is  all  one  and  the  same.  The  fathers  builded  better  than  they  knew. 
I  am  carried  back  in  history  to  the  days  of  Washington,  and  Adams,  and  Jefferson, 
and  all  the  immortal  spirits  of  their  time.  Grasping  the  brand  of  freedom  they 
rushed  into  the  very  waters  of  the  ocean  in  order  to  light  that  brand  upon  a 
shore  where  they  could  worship  God  after  the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences. 
[Cheers.]  What  else  induced  them?  What  impelled  them?  The  spirit  that 
makes  the  little  bird  beat  its  breast  against  the  wires  of  its  cage,  while  it  longs 
for  freedom,  is  the  same  spirit  that  is  planted  in  the  human  breast  struggling  to 
be  free.  [Cheers.]  Can  such  a  government  founded  upon  such  a  principle  fail  ? 
What  a  mistake  was  made  by  those  who  wickedly  planned  the  terrible  conspiracy, 
or  followed  the  treacherous  lead  !  Who  could  have  conceived  the  idea  that  the 
union  of  the  States,  cemented  by  the  best  blood  of  the  nation,  could  ever  be 
torn  asunder? 

Novr,  what  shall  we  do  in  commemoration  of  such  mighty  events?  Build 
higher,  go  farther  in  our  march  of  progress.  They,  the  fathers,  lived  for  their 
time;  we  live  for  ours.  We  have  a  better  government  than  they  left  us.  Other 
wise,  we  would  be  receding  ;  but  we  are  advancing.  We  have  raised  strong  states 
men  and  noble  workmen  who  have  carried  on  the  work  of  the  fathers.  I  am 
proud  of  my  privilege  to  come  to  Ohio ;  I  love  to  come  here  because  it  is  the 
home  of  your  Garfield ;  it  is  the  home  of  your  Sherman,  and  last,  but  not  least, 
it  is  the  home  of  that  gallant  young  Governor  (Foraker),  the  champion  of  the 
common  people's  rights,  the  President  of  this  Centennial  Celebration.  He  touches 
the  hearts  of  the  common  people  because  his  every  public  utterance  is  for  his 
country ;  because  he  lovts  loyalty ;  because  he  always  says  what  he  thinks  and 
thinks  before  he  says  it.  [Renewed  applause.]  Always  advancing,  never  retreat 
ing,  planting  in  the  breasts  of  his  hearers  and  his  constituents  more  love  for 
Union.  A  State  controlled  by  that  spirit,  a  Nation  controlled  by  that  loyalty, 
must  always  stand  first  and  foremost  in  the  great  galaxy  of  Nations.  [Continued 
applause.] 

Your  State  does  not  possess  the  pictured  rocks  of  Lake  Superior,  but  can  I 
boast  of  them  ?  God  gave  them  to  us.  God  gave  us  the  rich  minerals  of  our 
copper  and  iron  mines,  and  planted  the  pine  trees  in  our  forests,  and  marked  out 
our  lake-bound  coast.  They  are  all  natural  gifts.  You  have  within  the  borders 
of  your  State  grand  and  beautiful  scenery ;  you  have  facilities  for  manufacturing 
that  Michigan  will  always  be  proud  of.  How  can  we  separate  ourselves  to-day 


156  REPORT   OF  THE    COMMISSIONERS   OF   THE 


by  State  lines?  How  can  we  compare  one  State  with  another  and  show  more 
progress  in  any  part  of  this  Northwest  Territory  than  has  been  enjoyed  in  another  ? 
You  touch  the  key  of  progress,  and  through  every  vein  of  the  great  system  the 
mighty  battery  that  moves  the  country  will  start  life  and  fire  through  all  indus 
tries,  and  all  must  prosper  by  it.  Tear  down  one  lofty  noble  enterprise,  and  all 
must  necessarily  feel  the  shock.  The  duty  and  the  danger  of  the  hour,  then,  are 
constantly  before  the  people,  demanding  earnest  thought  and  careful  attention. 
Having  established  the  fact  that  liberty  and  not  slavery  must  exist,  I  am  proud 
to  know  that  to-day,  upon  this  platform,  man  or  woman,  rich  or  poor,  black  or 
white,  stand  just  exactly  where  God  intended  them  to  stand,  as  free  as  the  waves 
of  the  ocean  or  the  winds  of  heaven.  [Applause.] 

"  Skins  may  differ, 
But  affection  dwells  in  white  and  black  the  same." 

Abraham  Lincoln  heard  the  cry  of  the  slave  ;  the  crack  of  the  master's  lash  ; 
the  baying  of  the  blood-hound ;  he  heard  the  auctioneer's  call  above  the  fallen 
form  of  the  mother  as  her  child  was  torn  from  her  embrace  [cheering],  and,  though 
he  could  not  heal  their  bruised  and  lacerated  backs  and  limbs,  he  could  heal  their 
wounded  hearts.  [More  cheering.]  Truly  may  it  be  said  of  this  Nation,  it  has 
laid  up  treasures  in  Heaven.  And  now  are  waiting  Washington,  Lincoln,  Grant, 
and  Logan,  with  all  the  martyr  spirits  of  the  dark  conflict,  waiting  to  receive 
their  old  commands  on  the  green  fields  of  everlasting  peace.  In  my  fancy  I  can 
see  the  Grand  Army,  with  faded  coats  of  blue  thrown  back,  decked  in  spotless 
robes  of  white,  welcomed  on  every  hand  by  angels,  who  bow  with  reverence  as 
they  pass  through  the  gates  of  Paradise — there,  with  that  old  flag  flying  triumph 
antly  at  their  head — 

"They  shall  march  with  brightest  laurels, 

And  with  proud  victorious  tread, 
To  their  station  up  in  Heaven, 

The  Grand  Army  of  the  dead."     [Applause.] 

•  This,  then,  is  an  appropriate  occasion  to  speak  not  only  of  the  glories  of  the 
republic,  but  of  the  saviors  of  the  republic. 

The  day  we  celebrate  is  sacred  in  our  history,  made  so  by  Washington  and 
his  patriots,  yet  we  have  another  day  no  less  sacred — the  day  we  decorate.  And 
while  there  are  those  upon  whose  graves  we  cannot  plant  the  rose,  the  lily,  or  the 
beautiful  forget-me-not,  bands  of  sweet  music  and  choruses  of  sweet  voices  will 
chant  their  requiem  from  shore  to  shore.  [Renewed  applause.]  They  are  with 
us  still.  There  is  no  death — 

"  The  stars  go  down  to  rise  upon  some  fairer  shore, 
And  bright  in   Heaven's  jeweled  crown  they  shine  for  evermore." 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  157 


Michigan,  the  pride  of  its  representatives  here  to-day,  has  a  history  so  plain 
that  "  he  who  runs  may  read."  You  all  know  by  whom  it  was  founded.  Its  early 
history  is  associated  with  those  grand  old  patriots,  the  pride  of  the  people  of  Ohio 
and  Michigan,  whose  names  will  find  a  responsive  echo  in  the  hearts  of  your  citi 
zens,  William  Woodbridge  and  Lewis  Cass.  [Applause.]  You  love  their  mem 
ory  ;  you  revere  them  for  what  they  have  done.  We  partake,  too,  in  the  pride 
of  such  great  names.  They  were  all  actuated  by  the  same  grand  motive — the 
same  holy  purpose. 

Among  the  worthy  men  who  made  the  early  growth  of  Michigan  famous, 
these  two  deserve  more  than  a  passing  notice. 

William  Woodbridge  was  the  first  delegate  to  Congress  from  the  territory, 
and  General  Cass  the  pioneer  territorial  Governor.  Both  were,  for  a  time,  resi 
dents  of  Marietta.  No  man  was  better  qualified  to  deal  with  the  Indians  than 
General  Cass.  He  understood  all  the  tricks  of  Indian  cunning,  and  possessed  a 
controlling  interest  over  them.  He  acquired  much  land  from  treaties  made  with 
the  red  men,  and  materially  advanced  the  interest  of  territory  and  State,  as  long 
as  he  was  at  the  head  of  affairs.  Many  honors  were  accorded  him  by  the  people 
and  different  administrations,  among  them  Secretary  of  State  and  of  War,  and 
Senator  for  a  number  of  terms.  He  lived  to  a  ripe  old  age,  and  died  among  his 
friends  with  an  untrammeled  reputation  as  a  warrior,  patriot  and  statesman. 

Other  great  names  deserve  especial  attention,  but  time  hurries  me  on.  A 
single  word,  however,  must  be  said  of  our  great  Indian  chieftain,  Pontiac,  worthy 
to  be  classed  with  Philip,  Black  Hawk  and  Tecumseh.  Had  he  been  a  Spaniard, 
Frenchman,  or  an  Englishman,  he  would  have  made  a  fame  equal  to  Cortez, 
Charlemagne  or  Wellington. 

I  am  glad  that  we  live  in  a  land  of  uncrowned  kings ;  where  every  man  is 
the  peer  of  his  fellows,  where  we  do  not  have  gentlemen  as  distinguished  from 
the  honest  toiling  people ;  where  we  have  no  landed  aristocracy,  and  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  is  the  servant  of  the  common  people,  held  in  his  place 
by  the  power  which  you  and  I  hold  in  our  right  hands  ;  where  the  common 
people  own  the  government  and  shall  ever  control  it. 

I  was  talking  some  time  ago  with  a  gentleman  who  thought  we  did  not  have 
quite  enough  of  caste  in  this  country.  We  would  make  a  marked  distinction  in 
this  country  between  the  gentlemen  and  the  workingmen.  But  when  I  came  to 
learn  the  characteristics  of  the  two  classes,  and  the  real  difference  between  them, 
I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  we,  too,  have  similar  gentlemen,  but  we  know  them 
by  a  different  name.  We  call  them  "  tramps,"  [laughter]  and  if  there  is  any 
difference  between  the  English  gentleman,  as  distinguished  from  the  workingman, 
and  the  American  tramp,  the  odds,  I  think,  are  in  favor  of  our  tramp,  for  he 
walks  for  a  living.  [Renewed  laughter.] 

Yes,  I  am  glad  I  live  in  a  country  of  free  men  and  free  women ;  men  who 
are  independent,  whether  they  work  in  a  National  bank  or  a  sand  bank.  [Ap 
plause  and  laughter.] 


158  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


I  thank  you  for  the  response,  because  you  know  that  when  General  Grant 
gave  up  his  life  on  sacred  Mount  McGregor,  he  established  a  stronger  brother 
hood.  North  and  south,  step  by  step,  came  together,  and  as  the  death-knell 
sounded,  federal  and  confederate  clasped  hands  above  his  grave.  He  died  that 
the  Union  might  forever  live,  and  his  arch-enemies  in  war  bore  his  body  to  the 
tomb  ;  side  by  side  with  Union  soldiers  did  they,  mingle  tears  and  flowers  upon  a 
common  sod.  [More  applause.]  With  that  spirit,  there  can  be  no  South  save 
the  new  South;  and  the  seeds  of  rebellion,  sown  long-ago,  must  die  out  forever. 
[Renewed  applause.] 

Washington,  in  his  farewell  address,  says  by  way  of  warning,  "  control  your 
own  affairs,  do  not  meddle  with  foreign  governmental  affairs."  In  other  words, 
America  should  attend  to  America,  and  nothing  else.  And  while  our  hearts  go 
out  for  the  poor  and  opptessed  of  other  lands,  let  us  remember  the  warning  of 
the  father  of  his  country. 

My  heart  goes  out  in  fraternal  sympathy  to  the  down-trodden  and  oppressed 
of  Ireland,  but  I  am  not  licensed  to  speak  for  my  government.  May  God  yet 
strengthen  the  already  strong  arm  of  Gladstone  and  Parnell,  until  the  land  of 
Emmet,  O'Connell,  Burke,  and  Sheridan  shall  bloom  and  blossom  again  as  the 
rose.  [Applause.]  May  the  time  soon  come,  when,  like  America's  eagle,  Ire 
land's  shamrock  shall  appear  above  the  red  cross  of  England.  [Renewed  ap 
plause.]  That  is  my  sentiment.  My  government,  however,  has  a  duty  here  to 
perform.  She  cannot  afford  to  mingle  in  European  affairs  and  foreign  disputes. 
I  say  it  with  all  due  deference  to  my  foreign  brother  present.  Come  here;  this  is 
your  home ;  you  have  renounced  allegiance  to  every  flag  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
but  our  flag.  You  must  be  more  American  ;  you  must  serve  no  foreign  prince,  po 
tentate,  or  king;  you  must  turn  your  back  upon  the  country  of  your  childhood, 
and  make  this  the  land  of  your  adoption.  And  when  with  treasonable  purpose 
any  flag  is  unfurled  in  this  country,  save  the  flag  of  the  Union,  my  advice  to  my 
countrymen  is  to  "  keep  your  powder  dry  and  aim  low."  [Applause.]  "  One 
country  and  one  flag,"  be  ever  our  motto,  and  let  workingmen,  employers,  capi' 
talists,  and  all  join  hands  around  that  common  standard.  [Renewed  applause.] 

Thus  hastily,  yet  earnestly,  do  I  approach  my  subject  proper. 

Michigan  was  discovered  about  1620,  and  governed  by  the  French  till  1763, 
when  it  was  ceded  to  Great  Britain,  at  the  close  of  tke  old  French  and  Indian 
war,  and  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war  it  was  transferred  to  the  United 
States,  but  the  English  retained  command  of  the  military  fort  till  1796. 

Michigan  remained  a  part  of  the  Northwest  Territory  till  1802,  when  it 
formed  a  part  of  the  Indiana  Territory,  and  was  finally  made  a  Territory  by 
itself  in  1805,  with  the  Ordinance  of  '87  for  its  fundamental  law. 

In  1816  a  strip,  equal  to  thirty  townships,  was  taken  from  its  southern 
boundary  and  given  to  Indiana,  and  in  1818,  Congress  added  to  its  territory  all 
the  unoccupied  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  and  north  of  Illinois,  and  in 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  159 


1834  all  the  Territory  east  of  the  Missouri  and  White  Rivers  and  North  of  Mis 
souri  was  added  —this  comprised  the  present  States  of  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Minne 
sota,  and  a  large  portion  of  Dakota.  In  1837  Michigan  became  a  State  with  its 
present  limits. 

The  shores  of  Michigan  were  skirted  by  navigators  as  early  as  1612,  and 
Jesuit  missions  were  founded  in  the  upper  peninsula  in  1641.  Sault  St.  Marie 
was  founded  in  1668,  and  the  following  year  a  mission  was  established  at  St. 
Ignace.  Cadillac  founded  Detroit  in  1701.  The  first  acre  of  the  public  lands  in 
Michigan  was  offered  for  sale  in  1818,  and  in  the  same  year  the  first  trip  by 
steamer  was  made  from  Buffalo  to  Detroit. 

In  1825  the  Erie  Canal  was  formally  opened,  and  emigrants  could^go  to  Mich 
igan  from  Albany  and  New  York,  the  entire  distance  by  water.  This  was  the 
commencement  of  the  real  advance  in  the  prosperity  of  Michigan. 

Michigan  ranks  first  in  the  Union  in  the  number  of  small  farms  of  from 
twenty  to  fifty  acres,  and  this,  accoiding  to  our  great  political  economists,  is  the 
most  healthful  condition  imaginable  of  the  great  agricultural  interests  of  ;;  nation. 
We  rank,  also,  in  the  first  class  as  a  healthful  State;  only  six  States  have  a  jess 
death-rate  in  proportion  to  the  population,  and  this  rank  has  been  maintained  for 
more  than  forty  years. 

In  1820  Michigan  occupied  the  lowest  rank  in  point  of  population,  but  she 
steadily  gained  in  the  race  till  in  1840  she  had  passed  five  States,  eleven  in  1850, 
and  thus  readily  has  she  advanced  till  the  record  of  1880  places  her  ahead  of 
thirteen  more  of  her  competitors,  leaving  her  ninth  in  the  list. 

Her  institutions  of  learning  are  the  pride  of  the  State  and  the  Nation.  The 
State  University  is  richly  endowed  by  the  Commonwealth  with  a  faculty  of  more 
than  a  hundred  professors  and  instructors  with  their  assistants,  and  a  president 
who  has  a  place  in  the  front  rank  of  the  world's  greatest  scholars. 

Our  Agricultural  College,  the  first  of  the  kind  in  the  Uni-ied  States,  has  every 
facility  for  building  up  a  strong  mental  and  physical  culture,  and  to  its  important 
teaching  is  due,  to  a  very  large  extent,  the  great  development  of  agricultural  in 
terests  of  our  State. 

The  State  Normal  School,  established  in  1849,  has  grown  to  grand  propor 
tions,  and  is,  says  Prof.  Sill,  its  ablest  principal,  to  the  primary  school  what  theo 
logical  seminaries  are  to  the  churches. 

We  have,  also,  a  School  of  Mining,  situated  in  the  midst  of  the  richest 
mining  section  in  the  country,  with  every  practical  aid  to  a  finished  scientific 
education. 

Michigan  boasts  a  most  healthy  system  of  denominational  colleges,  sustained 
generally  by  voluntary  contributions;  denominational  without  being  sectarian,  a 
distinction  worthy  of  the  notice  of  statesmen  and  reformers 

A   single  word  concerning  our  products  and   resources.     In    1886  Michigan 

11  C.  B. 


l6o  REPORT   OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    <5F    THE 


produced  35,000  tons  of  copper,  valued  at  $8,000,000,  and  of  the  57,<X>o,ooo 
pounds  produced  in  the  United  States,  Michigan  produced  46,000,000  po-u-nds. 
The  same  year  she  produced  2,000,000  tons  of  iron  ore  ;  3,500,000  barrels  of  salt ; 
$53,000,000  worth  of  lumber. 

In  the  way  of  horiculture,  Michigan  fruits  have  borne  away  the  medal  at 
every  competitive  exhibition,  and  the  yield  is  most  abundant.  In  a  single  year 
one  county  has  been  known  to  ship  nearly  30,000  bushels  of  strawberries,  5,000- 
bushels  of  raspberries,  nearly  n,ooo  bushels  of  blackberries,  more  than  2oo,tXK> 
bushels  of  peaches,  and  about  17,000  barrels  of  apples. 

I  have  attempted  to  give  here  but  the  briefest  sketch  of  our  progress  in 
forest,  field  and  factory,  in  the  school  and  the  mine.  Together  we  share  her 
prosperity,  and  together  we  exclaim  ; 

"O,  great  and  glorious  State — 
Land  of  the  wood  and  lake, 

•Thy  praise  we  sing ; 
Our  loyal  hearts  adore 
Thy  fertile,  wave-washed  shore, 

God  bless  thee  evermore,  our  Michigan."      [Applause.] 

I  have  spoken  of  the  peculiar  natural  advantages  of  Michigan;  of  her  mag 
nificent  coast  line,  of  her  beautiful  cities :  Detroit,  the  lamp  of  whose  progress 
was  lighted  by  Cadillac,  as  early  as  1701 ;  Sault  St.  Marie,  the  date  of  which  set 
tlement  reaches  back  to  1668  ;  the  old  island  of  Mackinac,  replete  with  the  early 
history  of  Indian  wars;  the  building  of  forts,  the  repulse  of  the  British,  the 
driving  from  the  soil,  by  Americans,  of  every  thing  that  did  not  savor  of  the 
Union  and  the  Constitution. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence — does  every  boy  know  it  by  heart?  Learn 
it.  It  is  simple,  it  is  strong.  Do  you  know  the  Ordinance  of  1787?  Make  this 
a  foundation  upon  which  to  rear  an  honest  manhood  and  a  loyal  citizenship;  you 
never  can  be  wrong  if  that  be  your  guide.  [Applause.] 

Among  its  many  grand  and  holy  provisions  may  be  found  freedom  of  religious 
worship,  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  representation  by  the  people,  and  the  right 
of  trial  by  jury.  It  provides  also  for  the  encouragement  of  common  schools  and 
higher  institutions  of  learning.  Establishes  as  common  highways  for  all  people 
the  rivers  and  lakes,  and  makes  them  forever  free.  It  abrogates  the  law  of 
primogeniture,  and  makes  equal  divisions  of  the  territory  among  all  children 
and  heirs. 

It  settled  for  all  time  the  questions  of  slavery  and  secession  by  providing 
that  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  shall  'exist  anywhere  within  the 
limits  of  the  territory,  and  that  the  territory  shall  ever  remain  a  part  of  the  United 
States;  and  lastly,  that  these  articles  of  compact  between  the  State  and  territory 
shall  remain  forever  unalterable  unless  changed  by  common  consent. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  l6l 


There  have  been  many  noble  documents  recorded  in  history — the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence,  the  famous  Ordinance,  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States;  last  in  number,  but  first  in  human  kindness  and  justice,  is  that  immortal 
document,  the  grandest  on  earth,  Lincoln's  Emancipation  Proclamation.  [Cheers.] 
Each  is  built  upon  the  other,  and  all  is  built  upon  what  God  created  in  the  hu 
man  heart,  a  longing  for  religious  liberty,  and  a  love  for  human  justice.  [Re 
newed  cheers.] 

I  thank  God  for  the  free,  loyal,  unfettered  press  of  this  country,  that  con 
stantly  denounces  the  wrong  and  demands  the  right.  If  competition  is  the  life 
of  trade  in  commerce,  so  is  opposition  essential  in  politics.  There  must  always 
be  a  bold  and  honest  interchange  of  thought  and  expression.  There  can  be  no 
danger  in  this  grand  school  of  the  world.  Let  all  the  children  of  America  know 
all  about  the  great  National  issues,  while  the  fathers  discuss  them,  openly,  pub 
licly,  and,  as  I  trust,  always  good-naturedly. 

In  Michigan  we  produce  more  salt,  more  lumber,  more  copper,  more  iron, 
than  any  other  State.  God  has  placed  his  most  precious  things  far  beneath  the 
hard  surface  of  the  earth,  teaching  the  lesson  that  "there  is  no  excellence  without 
great  labor;"  if  you  get  them  you  must  dig  for  them.  [Applause.] 

You  are  proud  of  the  Michigan  University,  with  her  seventeen  hundred 
students ;  you  are  glad  that  the  best  men  of  Ohio  ;  the  best  men  of  Illinois  and 
Wisconsin  and  Indiana  have  been  educated  in  the  great  Universities  of  the  States 
blocked  out  of  the  Northwest  Territory.  You  are  glad  then,  I  say,  of  our  edu 
cational  institutions,  our  common  school  system,  which  is  the  light  of  progress  of 
our  nation;  simple,  grand — aye,  sublime. 

The  door  is  open  to  the  poorest  boy,  no  matter  though  he  be  poorly  clad 
and  without  money,  the  State  will  give  him  an  education,  because  the  State  needs 
him  hereafter.  The  reins  of  government  will  soon  drop  from  hands  too  feeble  to 
hold  them,  and  must  fall  into  the  young  hands  that  are  reaching  up  ready  to  grasp 
them  and  carry  on  this  grand  work  of  government  to  a  glorious  conclusion. 
Peopled  with  loyal  citizens,  loyal  boys  and  girls,  possessed  of  that  virtue  with 
which  God  has  crowned  them,  can  such  a  government  fail  ?  "A  government  of 
the  people,  by  the  people  and  for  the  people." 

What  else  have  we  done  in  Michigan  ?  We  have  done  this :  We  have  cleared 
the  forests  to  a  large  extent ;  we  have  built  your  ships ;  your  houses  ;  your  fac 
tories.  We  have  rafted  down  our  beautiful  Muskegon  and  Grand  rivers,  and 
thrown  upon  the  markets  of  the  world  more  lumber,  logs  and  timbers  of  every 
description  than  figures  can  estimate. 

It  would  take  too  long  to  make  a  computation.  It  comes  to  your  shores,  and 
many  of  your  people  enjoy  comfortable  and  happy  homes  and  shelter  hewn  out 
of  Michigan  forests  by  hardy  Michigan  pioneers. 

Of  course,  when  I  speak  of  natural  advantages,  I  cannot  leave  out  your 
State.  You  have  natural  advantages  ;  first  among  which  I  must  mention  natural 


1 62  REPORT   OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


gas,  but  this  being  a  land  of  orators  you  must  expect  that.  [Laughter].  The 
one  cannot  exist,  they  tell  us,  without  the  other.  [Renewed  laughter].  It  is  a 
grand  enterprise;  it  is  building  up  Ohio  grander  than  you  know.  It  is  in  its  in 
fancy,  as  our  industries  all  are. 

We  have  also  built  up  an  institution  that  God  smiles  upon — a  Soldiers'  Home. 
And  I  may  here  say  that  I  shall  always  consider  it  a  sacred  duty  to  stand  with 
uncovered  and  bowed  head  in  the  presence  of  the  Union  soldier  who  bends  above 
his  crutch  or  wears  an  empty  sleeve.  Soon  every  link  of  that  golden  love-chain 
will  be  gone.  What  can  we  do  for  them  that  they  are  not  entitled  to?  I  love 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  ;  I  love  it  for  the  record  it  has  made ;  I  love  it 
because  of  the  precious  memories  it  brings.  I  see  the  boys  in  blue  at  Look 
out-mountain,  falling1  back  step  by  step,  upon  stones  made  slippery  with  their 
own  warm  blqod,  and  I  see  them  rally  again  for  victory,  until  at  last  they  plant 
the  flag  of  the  Union  above  the  clouds,  mingling  the  stars  of  the  States  with  God's 
stars.  [Applause.]  Michigan  has  helped  to  make  that  record,  and  I  can  speak 
of  no  portion  of  her  history  with  more  sacred  devotion.  [Applause.] 

She  contributed  to  the  Union  cause  91,000  ol  her  bravest  and  her  best.  Their 
blood  has  been  shed  on  every  battle-field.  They  sleep  in  every  national  cemetery 
and 

"On  Fame's  eternal  camping  ground  their  silent  tents  are  spread, 

And  Glory  guards  with  solemn  tread  round  the  bivouac  of  the  dead." 

[Applause.] 

When  I  saw  your  soldiers'  monument  here  in  this  lovely  park,  I  thought  of 
one  thing  needed.  When  my  country  shall  build  the  grandest  monument  known 
to  human  hands  in  memory  of  her  fallen  sons,  let  her  build  beside  it,  one  even 
more  beautiful,  if  possible,  leaning  toward  it,  as  if  to  support  it,  in  memory  of 
God's  Grand  Relief  Corps  of  America's  loyal  women.  [Applause].  We  remem. 
ber  them  in  camp,  field,  and  hospital,  caring  for  the  wounded  and  covering  the 
dead. 

Let  my  country  give  more  time  and  more  honor  to  the  "daughters  of  the 
regiment." 

Representing  the  younger  element  of  the  country,  as  I  do,  my  highest  ambi 
tion  shall  ever  be  to  serve  well  the  common  people,  represent  them  in  any 
humble  capacity  I  can,  caring  only  to  follow  where  they  dare  to  lead.  The 
memory  of  Putnam,  Cutler  and  Cass,  their  glorious  record  and  their  gallant 
leadership  have  implanted  in  my  breast  a  spark  of  patriotism  that  shall  grow 
brighter  as  time  advances,  and  when  at  last  I  can  offer  a  feeble  life  for  the  good 
of  a  common  country,  I  shall  consider  my  highest  obligation  on  earth  paid.  [Ap 
plause.] 

Every  man  can  work  out  noble  purposes  on  fields  of  peace  as  well  as  upon 
fields  of  war.  Let  us  have  more  American  government  taught  in  our  common 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION  163 


schools.  Teach  every  boy  what  it  is  to  be  a  good  citizen  ;  when  you  have  done 
that,  you  have  done  all  that  is  necessary  to  adorn,  and  upbuild  human  character. 
[Applause.] 

My  friends,  I  have  already  detained  you  longer  than  I  should,  and  all  I  claim 
for  what  I  have  said,  is  sincerity  and  truth;  with  no  studied  attitude;  no  pom 
pous  declamation,  but  in  plain,  blunt  language,  I  have  endeavored  to  tell  y«u 
what  our  country  is— her  future  is  with  you. 

The  future  of  America  is  in  the  hands  of  her  loyal  people.  Guard  her 
honor  well ;  cherish,  and  foster  and  upbuild  her  industries.  See  to  it  that  her 
flag  shall  forever  float  over  every  foot  of  precious  soil  made  sacred  by  the  blood 
of  the  patriots.  Let  there  be  no  dead  line  ;  banish  not  from  your  thoughts, 
however,  that  this  country  has  been  blood-fought ;  remember  that  we  are  all 
Americans.  Americanism  above  every  other  "  ism,"  and  let  loyalty  and  patriot 
ism  be  ever  your  crown  and  shield. 

Not  home,  but  country.  Not  that  we  love  home  less,  but  that  we  love  our 
country  more.  [Applause.]  Stand  by  the  principles  of  patriotism  planted  hi 
your  breasts  and  mine ;  stand  by  the  grand  design,  the  builders  had  in  view  in 
framing  your  Ordinance,  and  your  Constitution,  and  your  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence.  And,  in  conclusion,  stand  by  your  country.  [Applause.]  Learn  t  to 
love  every  foot  of  American  soil.  Let  us  hold,  in  our  estimation,  this  country 
higher  than  any  country  on  the  globe.  And  when  you  have  done  that,  you  have 
put  at  rest  forever  all  this  uneasy  feeling  about  changing  our  Constitution  or 
changing  our  fundamental  law.  Let  it  alone ;  don't  depart  from  it ;  build  upon 
it  higher  and  higher,  until  the  grand  edifice  shall  be  seen,  above  the  Statue  of 
Liberty,  above  every  hill  and  mountain  peak,  and  over  all,  shall  wave  the  flag  of 
the  Union,  the  highest  emblem  of  American  liberty,  the  only  one  we  cherish  and 
live  for,  and  at  last,  if  must  be,  die  for.  Pin  the  badge  of  freedom  to  your 
breasts  to-day ;  take  it  with  you  to  your  homes  ;  bring  it  with  you  to  Michigan 
on  some  like  glorious  occasion  of  ours.  Hand  in  hand  let  us  stand  around  the 
Constitution,  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  and 
we  shall  bring  down  upon  ourselves  that  Divine  approbation  at  last :  "  Well  done, 
good  and  faithful  servants." 

I  thank  you.     [Great  applause.] 


1 64  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

Mr.  Belknap :  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  now  have  the 
pleasure  of  presenting  to  you  Hon.  N.  P.  Smith,  of  Illinois, 
who  will  address  you  in  behalf  of  that  State.  [Applause  ] 


Address  of  .Hon.  N.  f.  Smith, 


OF  ILLINOIS. 


MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS:  It  would  be  idle  in  me  to  affect  to 
be  indifferent  to  the  occasion  which  has  called  us  from  different  parts  of  the 
country  formerly  known  as  the  "Northwest  Territory."  I  am  delighted  to  find 
myself  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  assembly  of  intelligent  men  and  women,  drawn 
here  from  all  classes,  professions  and  pursuits  of  life,  to  celeb- ate  the  establish 
ment  of  civil  government  in  the  Territory  Northwest  of  the  Ohio  River.  I  say, 
it  would  be  affectation  to  deny  that  it  gives  me  singular  gratification  to  be  heie 
as  the  representative  from  the  great  State  of  Illinois.  All  experience  shows  that 
human  sentiments  are  strongly  influenced  by  associations.  The  recurrence  of 
anniversaries,  or  of  longer  periods  of  time,  naturally  freshens  the  recollection 
and  deepens  the  impression  of  events,  with  which  they  are  historically  connected. 
Renowned  places  have  a  power  to  awaken  feeling  which  all  acknowledge.  No 
true  American  can  pass  by  the  fields  of  Bunker  Hill,  Monmouth,  Camden,  Vicks- 
burg,  Shilo  and  Gettysburg,  as  if  they  were  ordinary  spots  on  the  earth's  sur 
face.  Whoever  visits  them  feels  the  sentiment  of  love  of  country  kindling  anew, 
as  if  the  spirit  that  belonged  to  the  transactions  which  have  rendered  these 
places  distinguished  still  hovered  round,  with  power  to  move  and  excite  all  who 
in  future  time  may  approach  them.  But  these  sources  of  emotion  do  not  sur 
pass  the  power  which  the  places  where  our  ancestors  settled,  and  laid  the  founda 
tions  of  this  mighty  Republic,  have  to  affect  the  mind.  [Applause.] 

The  original  settlers  are  now-  recorded  among  the  illustrious  dead;  but  they 
have  left  names  never  to  be  forgotten,  and  never  to  be  remembered  without  re 
spect  and  veneration.  Least  of  all  can  they  be  forgotten  by  us  who  are  assem 
bled  here  to-day  for  the  purpose  of  celebrating  this  notable  event. 

While  we  are  here  to  rejoice  over  our  marvelous  growth  and  unparalleled 
prosperity,  we  cannot  forget  who  they  were,  that  in  the  day  of  our  National  in 
fancy,  in  the  times  of  despondency  and  despair,  laid  the  foundation  of  all  this 
growth  and  prosperity.  I  should  feel  that  I  was  unfaithful  to  the  strong  recol 
lections  which  the  occasion  presses  upon  us,  that  I  was  not  true  to  gratitude,  not 
true  to  patriotism,  not  true  to  the  living  or  the  dead,  not  true  to  your  feelings  or 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  165 


my  own,  if  I  should  forbear  to  express  my  profound  appreciation  of  the  heroic 
men,  Gen.  Rufus   Putnam,  Gen.  Benjamin  Tupper  and   Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler, 
who  laid  the  foundation  for  the  third  State  in  rank  of  the  great  American  com 
monwealths.     As  Senator  Sherman  says:     "  I  believe  that  the  Ordinance  of  1787 
and  the  settlement  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  chiefly  by  revolutionary  soldiers 
from  New  England,  was  one  of  the  most  important  civil  events  of  the  last  cen 
tury,  second  only  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and    the   adoption   of  the 
Constitution."     All  that  has  happened  since  that  time,  though  not  directly  trace 
able  to  these  events,  has  been  colored  by  the  principles  and  ideas  of  the  first  set 
tlement  at  Marietta,  and  those  which  soon  followed  along  the  Valley  of  the  Ohio. 
If  indeed  there  be  anything  in  local  association  fit  to  affect  the  mind  of  men, 
we  need  not  strive  to  repress  the  emotions  which  agitate  us  here.     We  are  among 
the  sepulchres  of  the  original  settlers  of  the  great  Northwest.     We  are  on  ground 
distinguished  by  their  valor,  their  constancy   and   their  courage.     We   cherish, 
every  memorial  of  these  worthy  ancestors ;  we  celebrate  their  patience  and  for 
titude  ;  we  admire  their  daring  enterprise ;  we  teach  our  children  to  venerate 
their  piety;  and  we  are  justly  proud  of  being  descended  from  men  who  have  set 
the  world  an  example  of  founding  civil  institutions  on  the  great  and  united  prin 
ciples  of  human  freedom  and  human  knowledge.     The  story  of  their  labors  and 
sufferings  can  never  be  without  its  interest.     No  vigor  of  youth,  no  maturity  of 
manhoood  will  lead  the  citizens  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wis 
consin  to  forget  Marietta,  the  spot  where  their  beginnings  were  cradled  and  He- 
fended.     [Applause.] 

The  free  nature  of  our  institutions  and  the  popular  form  of  our  State  gov 
ernments  which  have  come  down  to  us  from  this  place,  give  scope  to  intelligence, 
to  talent,  to  enterprise,  and  public  spirit,  from  all  classes,  making  up  the  great 
body  of  the  States.  And  these  States  have  received  benefit  in  all  their  history, 
and  in  all  their  exigencies,  of  the  most  eminent  and  striking  character,  from  the 
original  settlers  of  this  city.  We  acknowledge  with  gratitude  our  indebtedness 
to  them.  Everything  that  comes  to  us  from  the  past  is  a  gift.  All  history  is  re 
lated.  The  parent  transmits  his  leading  qualities,  to  a  considerable  extent,  to  the 
child;  and  each  generation  may  be  called  the  parent  of  the  one  that  follows.  It 
is  pleasant  to  trace  the  improvement  in  men  and  institutions  through  history  in 
the  past  down  to  the  present  time.  It  took  near  five  thousand  eight  hundred 
years  to  make  men  capable  of  producing  such  a  statement  of  human  rights  as  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  Since  the  first  settlement  of  Marietta,  we  have 
developed  to  an  extent  quite  incomprehensible  to  other  countries,  and  rather 
beyond  our  own  ability  to  fully  appreciate.  During  the  time  intervening  be 
tween  the  settlement  of  Marietta  and  the  present  day,  the  map  of  Europe  and 
the  world  has  changed  many  times;  not  the  physical  geography,  but  the  political 
governments. 

Let  us  pause  a  moment  and  think  what  changes  have  come  over  the  affairs 


1 66  REPORT   OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


of  this  world  since  1788.  At  that  period  there  was  not  a  religious  journal  nor  an 
agricultural  paper  published  upon  the  American  Continent,  and  but  few  of  any 
other  kind.  One  hundred  years  ago  there  were  no  railroads,  no  steamboats,  no 
locomotives,  no  reapers,  no  threshers  and  no  steam  plows.  There  were  no  cook 
stoves,  and  the  bread  was  baked  in  the  old-fashioned  rat-tailed  skillet,  and  the 
oven  where  the  delicious  corn  pone  was  cooked  with  a  hot  bed  of  coals  under 
neath  and  a  chip  fire  on  the  lid;  with  a  pot  hanging  over  the  fire  in  which  the 
venison  was  stewed  or  the  squirrel  pot-pie  was  done  through  and  through.  A 
century  ago  there  was  no  such  thing  as  ready-made  clothing ;  in  fact,  a  suit  of 
store-clothes  was  a  wonderful  thing  years  after  the  settlement  of  Marietta.  A 
century  ago  the  arts  and  sciences  had  made  little  progress.  There  was  no  such 
thing  known  as  a  buggy  spring,  and  no  spring  steel  with  which  to  make  any 
thing.  Everybody  who  rode  at  all,  rode  in  a  jolt  wagon,  the  wheels  of  which 
were  usually  sawed'  from  the  end  of  a  good  round  log.  In  medicine,  there  was 
no  such  thing  known  as  quinine.  It  was  not  known  that  man  had  such  a  thing 
as  a  nervous  system.  And  if  some  overworked  woman  suffered  from  nervous 
prostration,  she  was  considered  to  be  hystericy  and  little  belter  than  a  witch. 
Surgery  was  not  even  in  its  infancy,  nor  did  it  even  enter  the  heart  of  man  to  con 
ceive  the  wonderful  achievements  that  have  since  been  made  in  this  science. 
There  was  no  such  thing  as  Lucifer  matches,  but  every  man  who  wanted  to  build 
a  fire  carried  a  flint  and  steel  in  his  pocket  with  a  piece  of  punk.  And  if  in  the 
morning  it  was  found  the  fire  had  gone  out  on  the  hearth  during  the  night,  it 
was  consideied  the  quickest  thing  to  do  to  go  to  one  of  the  neighbors  for  a  chunk 
of  fire  or  some  live  ceals,  usually  carried  between  two  clap-boards,  provided  it 
was  not  too  far  to  the  neighbors.  The  fact  is  that  during  the  present  century 
greater  perceptible  progress  has  been  made  than  all  the  centuries  previous,  since 
the  foundation  of  the  earth. 

Think  of  it !  When  Rufus  Putnam,  Benjamin  Tupper  and  Menasseh  Cutler 
came  here,  a  traveler  did  well  to  .make  forty  or  fifty  miles  in  twenty-four  hours. 
Now,  a  man  can  eat  his  supper,  lie  down  in  a  comfortable  bed  at  Louisville,  Ken 
tucky,  and  beat  a  wild  goose  to  Chicago.  We  may  well  remind  ourselves  of  the 
marvelous  times  in  which  we  live,  and  their  probable  effect  on  the  future.  Events 
move  now,  not  in  arithmetical,  but  in  geometrical  progression.  Our  century  has 
giyen  the  world  the  steamboat,  the  railroad,  the  telegraph  and  photograph,  anas- 
thetics,  practical  electricity,  and  how  many  other  beneficent  wonders!  Not  he 
that  hopes,  but  he  that  desponds  over  the  prospects  of  the  world,  is  now  likely 
to  be  the  false  logician. 

Illinois,  the  State  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  on  this  occasion,  it  is 
true,  was  first  visited  by  French  Jesuit  missionaries  in  •  the  year  1672,  who  ex 
plored  eastern  Wisconsin  and  northern  Illinois  in  that  year.  The  oldest  perma 
nent  settlement  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  was  made  at  Kaskaskia,  in  Illi 
nois,  by  the  French,  in  1720,  sixty-eight  years  before  the  settlement  at  Marietta. 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       167 


This  State  was  formed  from  what  was  known  as  the  Northwestern  Territory,  and 
was  the  twenty-first  of  the  American  Union.  It  was  admitted  and  became  a 
State  on  the  3d  day  of  December,  1818.  It  has  an  area  of  55,405  square  miles, 
equal  to  35,459,200  acres.  In  1870  it  reached  the  fourth  rank  in  population  and 
remained  the  same  in  1880.  The  population  to-day  is  nearly  4,000,000,  of  which 
700,000,  or  nearly  one-fifth,  are  in  the  city  of  Chicagto.  It  ranks  first  in  the 
Union  in  corn,  wheat,  oats,  meat-packing,  lumber  traffic,  horses,  and  in  the  num 
ber  of  miles  of  railway  operated.  Except  Delaware  and  Louisiana,  it  has  the 
most  level  surface  in  the  Union. 

The  State  is  underlaid  in  more  than  three- fourths  of  its  extent  by  beds  of 
bituminous  coal  of  excellent  quality  and  workable  depth.  The  coal  area  is  little 
short  of  37,000  square  miles,  and  is  about  one-seventh  of  the  entire  known  coal 
area  of  North  America.  All  the  factors  necessary  to  successful  agriculture  con 
spire  to  give  this  State  pre-eminence.  The  soil  is  rich,  level,  free  from  stones  and 
gravel,  easily  tilled  and  highly  fertile.  Every  ingenuity  of  modern  machinery  is 
readily  applied  here.  The  rainfall  is  abundant  and  reasonable.  The  seasons  are 
long  enough  and  come  with  such  regularity  that  little  danger  is  experienced  by 
the  skillful  farmer  in  managing  any  crop  he  may  choose  to  cultivate.  The  public 
schools  of  our  State  take  high  rank  for  efficiency.  There  are  twenty-eight  col 
leges  and  universities,  besides  several  colleges  for  ladies,  together  with  numerous 
libraries  and  common  schools;  as  well  as  ten  theological,  three  law  and  seven 
medical  schools.  There  is  a  soldiers'  college  at  Fulton,  and  there  are  institutions 
for  the  blind  and  for  the  deaf  mutes  at  Jacksonville,  Chicago  and  Anna ;  reform 
schools  at  Pontiac  and  Chicago ;  a  State  institution  for  feeble-minded  youth  at 
Lincoln  ;  a  State  eye  and  ear  infirmary  at  Chicago  ;  an  insane  asylum  at  Jackson 
ville,  Elgin,  Anna  and  Kankakee. 

Illinois  is  a  great  State.  During  the  Mexican  war  she  raised  and  equipped 
six  regiments  for  the  service.  In  the  latexivil  war  of  1861-65,  the  State  contrib 
uted  largely  of  men  and  means  for  the  struggle.  The  first  call  of  President  Lin 
coln  for  75,000  volunteers  was  made  on  April  15,  1861.  In  ten  days  after  that 
the  State  had  10,000  volunteers  enlisted,  although  her  quota  was  but  6,000.  Du 
ring  the  progress  of  the  war  the  State  contributed  258,092  men;  of  these,  5,588 
were  killed  in  battle,  3,032  died  of  wounds  received  in  action,  19,496  died  of 
disease,  967  died  in  prisons,  and  205  were  lost  at  sea  ;  making  a  total  loss  of  29,588 
in  the  war. 

"  Her.e  no  witch  was  ever  hanged  or  burned.  No  heretic  was  ever  molested. 
Here  no  slave  was  ever  born  or  dwelt."  Illinois  sent  two  men  to  the  Presidential 
Chair — Abraham  Lincoln  and  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  both  of  whom  were  re-elected. 
[Applause.] 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  any  age ;  a  man 
in  whom  great  genius  and  common  sense  were  strangely  mingled.  He  was  pru 
dent,  far-sighted  and  resolute  ;  thoughtful,  calm  and  just ;  patient,  tender-hearted 


REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF     THE 


and  great.  [Applause.]  Lincoln,  the  author  of  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipa 
tion,  General  Grant,  the  hero  of  Vicksburg  and  Appomattox  !  Both  Illinois  men. 
No  men  ever  served  their  country  with  more  entire  exemption  of  selfish  and  mer 
cenary  motives.  Their  fame  is  indeed  safe.  That  is  now  treasured  up  beyond 
the  reach  of  accident.  [Applause.]  If  there  were  no  sculptured  marble  or  en 
graved  stone  to  bear  record  of  their  deeds,  yet  would  their  remembrance  be  as 
lasting  as  the  State  they  honored.  Marble  columns,  indeed,  moulder  into  dust ; 
time  may  erase  all  impress  from  the  crumbling  stone,  but  their  fame  will  remain  ; 
for  with  American  liberty  it  rose  and  with  American  liberty  only  can  it  perish. 
[Renewed  applause.] 

Let  us  feel  deeply  how  much  of  what  we  are  and  of  what  we  possess  we  owe 
to  those  great  sons  of  Illinois.  But  let  us  acknowledge  the  blessing ;  let  us  feel 
it  deeply  and  powerfully ;  let  us  cherish  a  strong  affection  for  these  men  and 
maintain  and  perpetuate  their  fame.  The  blood  of  our  fathers,  brothers  and 
neighbors,  let  it  not  have  been  shed  in  vain ;  the  great  hope  of  posterity,  let  it 
not  be  blasted.  [Applause.] 


Mr.  Belknap  :  We  have  with  us  to-day  Hon.  John  Moses, 
of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  who  has  kindly  consented  to 
say  a  few  words  to  you.  Previous  to  introducing  him  I  am  re 
quested  to  give  a  notice.  There  are  many  people  here  who 
have  availed  themselves  of  the  half-rates  offered  by  the  various 
railroads.  Many  of  you  require  the  certificate  of  the  Secretary 
of  this  Association  in  order  to  enable  you  to  get  back.  The 
Secretary  will  be  found  at  his  office  between  the  hours  of  eleven 
and  twelve  in  the  morning. 

I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  Hon.  John 
Moses,  Secretary  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  169 

Address  of  Jior\..JoKr\  JMoses, 

OF  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS. 


MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN:  I  am  reminded  by  the 
lateness  of  the  hour  of  the  admonition  of  the  minister's  wife  to  her  husband. 
Knowing  his  failing  for  making  long  speeches,  when  he  was  called  upon  to  ad 
dress  an  audience  in  the  latter  part  of  the  meeting,  she  whispered  in  his  ear, 
"John,  make  it  short  and  brief."  [Laughter.]  So  I  will  confine  what  I  have 
to  say  to  the  very  few  pages  which  I  have  prepared  since  ray  arrival  here. 

The  State  of  Illinois,  represented  in  part  by  the  Chicago  Historical  Society, 
joins  with  hearty  congratulations,  not  unmixed  with  sentiments  of  pardonable 
pride,  in  this  Centennial  celebration  of  the  founding  of  Marietta  and  the  estab 
lishment  of  civil  government  under  the  Ordinance  of  1787. 

The  occasion  is  one  around  which  clusters  stirring  scenes,  momentous  issues, 
picturesque  events  and  the  most  sacred  memories.  Crystalized  into  imposing 
facts,  their  imprint  adorns  and  illustrates  in  letters  of  living  light,  the  most  striking 
pages  of  unfading  history. 

The  past  is  secure ;  and  looking  back  into  the  vanishing  years  we  recall  the 
efforts  of  your  first  settlers,  men  of  sturdy  resolve  and  heroic  self-sacrifice  ;  who 
did  not  shrink  in  their  contest  with  the  powers  of  nature  in  a  frontier  wilderness, 
in  obedience  to  their  high  purposes,  from  laying  broad  and  deep  the  foundations 
of  that  splendid  empire  whose  culminating  results  are  here  beheld  and  enjoyed 
this  day.  • 

Illinois  stretches  out  her  hand  and  clasping  yours,  remembers  that  her  people 
shared  with  you  the  trials  and  sacrifices  of  those  early  endeavors.  Your  Govern- 
or,  the  doughty,  patriotic,  brave  old  General  St.  Clair,  was  her  Governor  also  ;  the 
same  judges  who  presided  over  your  courts  administered  justice  in  Illinois;  the 
same  ordinance  and  the  laws  which  were  adopted  for  your  government  were  over 
us,  and  Illinois  had  her  representation  in  your  first  legislature.  When  Indiana, 
of  which  Illinois  was  a  part,  was  separated  from  Ohio,  we  were  still  reminded  of 
our  connection,  in  having  for  our  Governor  Captain  William  Henry  Harrison, 
[applause]  who  had  been  the  Secretary  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  and  its  dele 
gate  in  Congress,  and  who  was,  subsequently,  our  great  treaty  maker.  So  that 
the  cord  which  binds  Illinois  to  Ohio  and  Indiana,  and  indeed  to  all  the  other 
States  of  the  old  Northwest,  is  so  strong  that  it  can  never  be  broken.  We  had 
the  same  early  training,  the  same  difficulties  to  surmount,  the  same  forces  to  over 
come  ;  and  cherishing  the  same  glorious  hopes  and  lofty  aspirations,  we  will  go 


I7O  REPORT   OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


on  in  the  future  side  by  side  in  the  march  of  progress,  unhindered  by  any  power 
that  may  be  brought  against  us.  [Applause.]  Retaining  as  we  shall  the  balance 
of  political  power,  we  will  see  to  it  that  the  other  States,  north,  south,  east  and 
west,  shall  observe  their  constitutional  relations;  that  no  section  shall  ever  be 
permitted  to  disturb  the  peace  or  again  attempt  to  destroy  the  Union.  [Re 
newed  applause.] 

I  need  hardly  remind  you  on  this  occasion,  devoted  to  historic  reminiscences, 
that  Illinois  had  permanent  white  settlements  long  anterior  to  any  other  portion 
of  the  Northwest.  The  father  of  waters,  which  washes  her  entire  western  border, 
and  her  own  principal  river,  were  the  highways  of  early  explorers,  and  her  name 
frequently  appears  upon  the  historic  page  long  before  the  dawning  of  the  eigh 
teenth  century.  From  the  year  1673,  French  missionaries,  voyagers  and  traders, 
roamed  over  her  boundless  prairies  and  rich  valleys.  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia 
were  thriving  villages  long  before  Pittsburgh  or  New  Orleans  was  ever  thought 
of.  By  1750,  these  with  other  villages,  which  had  sprung  up  on  the  American 
Bottom,  contained  a  prosperous  and  contented  population  of  over  fifteen  hundred 
white  inhabitants.  But  it  must  be  admitted  that  they  were  of  a  lower  order  of 
Canadian  French,  who  cared  more  for  the  wild  woods  and  the  camp  of  the  abo 
rigines  than  for  the  haunts  and  customs  of  civilized  men. 

Although  the  French  occupied  and  governed  the  country  for  over  sixty 
years,  hardly  a  vestige  or  monument  of  their  presence  remains.  Neither  did  the 
English  occupation,  which  followed  and  lasted  thirteen  years,  owing  to  the  policy 
of  the  ministers  of  King  George  the  Third  to  discourage  settlements,  leave  any 
permanent  or  valuable  marks  behind  it.  And  when  the  British  troops,  supposed 
to  be  more  needed  elsewhere,  were  withdrawn  about  the  beginning  of  the  Revo 
lution,  and  the  country  was  again  left  to  the  presumably  loyal  French — British 
subjects  under  a  commandant  of  their  own  race,  all  the  English  families  in  the 
territory  departed  with  the  troops,  upon  whom  they  had  relied  for  protection. 

But  this  British  possession  during  the  first  years  of  the  Revolution,  was  a 
standing  menace  to  the  American  settlers  in  Virginia  and  Kentucky;  and  al 
though  the  English-French  villages  furnished  no  soldiers  themselves,  they  were 
the  rendezvous  of  hostile  tribes  of  Indians,  who  were  supplied  with  English  pro 
visions  and  munitions  of  war,  and  encouraged  to  make  attacks  upon  those  set 
tlements,  rewards  especially  being  offered  for  scalps.  It  was  to  break  up  this 
state  of  things,  and  to  set  back-fires  against  these  damaging  incursions,  that  Vir 
ginia,  under  the  patronage  of  her  Governor,  Patrick  Henry,  and  the  advice  of 
Thomas  Jefferson,  by  virtue  of  the  authority  given  in  the  articles  of  confedera 
tion,  and  in  her  own  defense,  and  at  her  own  expense,  determined  to  make  war 
upon  the  English  possessions  in  Illinois.  The  result  of  that  expedition,  so  ably 
conceived  by  its  masterly  commander,  Col.  George  Rodgers  Clark,  you  all  know. 
It  was  the  conquest  of  those  British  posts,  and  their  continuous  possession  by 
Virginia  authority,  which  perhaps  more  than  any  other  single  cause,  enabled  the 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION. 


United  States  at  the  end  of  the  revolution  to  retain  this  magnificent  domain  of 
the  Northwest  against  the  wish  of  France  and  the  machinations  of  Spain.  And 
any  attempt  to  depreciate  the  importance  of  the  conquest,  or  to  deprive  Vir 
ginia  of  her  just  claim  to  this  honor,  must,  in  the  light  of  all  the  facts,  signally 
fail. 

Although  the  early  history  of  Illinois  is  that  of  the  entire  Northwest,  each 
State  carved  out  of  it  views  that  history  from  its  own  peculiar  and  distinctive 
standpoint,  which  is  not  so  well  comprehended  by  the  others.  While  th'e  history 
of  all  possesses  many  features  in  common,  the  local  history  of  each,  in  some  re 
spects,  is  essentially  dissimilar  from  that  of  the  rest,  and  is  less  known  to  the 
others. 

The  first  American  settlers  in  Illinois  were  a  portion  of  those  who  composed 
the  command  of  Col.  Clark.  A  large  number  of  these,  upon  beholding  the  rich 
lands  of  Illinois,  determined  to  make  that  country,  which  they  had  helped  to 
conquer,  their  future  home.  Some  of  these  remained,  and  others,  fifteen  in  all, 
soon  after  removed,  with  their  families,  to  the  Territoiy,  becoming  permanent 
and  prominent  settlers  prior  to  1781  ;  one  of  whom  was  Shadrach  Bend,  Sr.,  who 
was  a  member  of  the  first  Territorial  Legislature  of  Ohio.  To  those  were  added 
during  the  years  from  1781  to  1788,  nearly  one  hundred  families,  including  the 
names  of  James  Moore,  Nathaniel  Hull,  from  Mass.,  and  John  Montgomery, 
James  Lemon,  Major  Moredock,  Jacob  and  Samuel  Judy,  Benjamin  Ogle,  all 
noted  rangers;  Wm.  Arundel,  merchant  and  clerk  of  the  County  Court,  John 
Seeley  and  Francis  Clark,  the  first  school  teachers;  William  Briggs,  a  long-time 
sheriff  and  member  of  the  Territorial  Legislature,  and  General  John  Edgar,  the 
first  American  merchant  at  Kaskaskia,  and  for  many  years  a  /leading  citizen  ;  so 
that  by  April,  1788,  it  is  entirely  safe  to  say  that  the  Illinois  country  contained  a 
population  of  at  least  five  hundred  permanent  American  settlers. 

With  the  incoming  of  these  hardy  sons  of  toil,  the  greater  portion  of  them 
from  Virginia  and  Maryland,  these  strong  courageous  heroes  of  the  revolution, 
the  interior  civilization  of  the  degenerate  Gauls  crumbled  away  and  disappeared 
like  mists  before  the  rising  sun.  A  more  vigorous  and  healthy  growth  took  its 
place.  Those  who  succeeded  them  came  to  stay.  They  had  broader  views  and 
higher  aims,  expanding,  inventing,  improving ;  fighting  against  the  powers  of 
darkness  and  conquering  through  the  ballot  and  the  inherent  love  of  liberty,  edu 
cation  and  religion. 

The  reduction  of  the  British  posts  was  followed  by  the  establishment  of  the 
county  of  Illinois  by  act  of  the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates,  and  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  first  American  government  in  said  county  in  the  Northwest  Territory. 
Col.  John  Todd  was  the  commandant  of  this  new  county,  in  which  the  civil 
government  instituted  by  him  in  May,  1779,  was  maintained  until  the  cession  of 
the  Territory  by  Virginia  to  the  United  States  in  1784. 

It  will  be  observed  that  some  of  the  first  settlers  above  mentioned,  came  to 


[72  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


the  county  of  Illinois  when  it  was  first  organized  ;  others  while  it  was  in  the 
transition  State  from  Virginia  to  the  Union,  and  others  still  later,  when  the  forms 
of  civil  government  had,  for  the  most  part,  been  abandoned.  They  were  for 
years  a  law  unto  themselves,  but  such  was  their  native  honesty,  their  sense  of 
fairness  in  their  demeanor  towards  one  another,  that  crimes,  or  even  petty  offenses 
were  unknown  amongst  them.  Desiring,  however,  that  guarantee  of  order  and 
stability,  which  comes  from  a  regularly  constituted  government,  even  before  the 
formation*  of  the  Ohio  Land  Company,  they  petitioned  Congress  to  pass  an  ordi 
nance  for  their  government.  It  was  not,  however,  until  their  efforts  in  this  di 
rection  were  supplemented  by  the  Ohio  Land  Company,  that  this  great  purpose 
was  accomplished.  This  company,  with  greater  wisdom,  insisted  that  the  pro 
visions  for  a  government  should  be  made  a  prerequisite  to  its  proposed  purchase 
"of  lands  and  settlement  of  the  country.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler,  acting 
for  the  company,  visited  Congress  and  impressed  his  views  most  favorably  upon 
its  members.  He  was  even  permitted  to  advise  and  suggest  many  of  those  forms 
and  provisions  in  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  afterward  adopted,  which  have  become 
so  celebrated  and  even  so  potent  in  the  establishment  of  free  government  in  the 
Northwest. 

Illinois  was  organized  as  a  Territory  in  April,  1809,  only  continuing  in  that 
condition  until  December  3,  1818,  when  she  was  admitted,  the  eighth  of  the  new 
States,  into  the  Union.  The  enabling  act  enlarged  her  boundaries,  and  in  many 
other  respects  was  liberal  in  its  provisions. 

The  State  contains  a  greater  area  than  New  York  or  Pennsylvania,  and,  with 
the  exception  of  Maine,  all  the  New  England  States  combined.  It  comprises  a 
larger  territory  than  England  or  than  Denmark  and  Portugal  together. 

In  her  35,840,000  acres,  the  ratio  of  sterility  to  productiveness  is  smaller 
than  in  any  other  State.  When  admitted  into  the  Union,  Illinois  contained  a 
smaller  population  than  any  other  State  or  Territory,  before  or  since  admitted. 
It  is  not  surprising,  however,  that  with  her  superior  advantages  in  location,  size 
and  natural  resources,  she  should  soon  outstrip  older  and  smaller  States  in  the 
race  for  numbers,  power  and  wealth.  One  after  another  fell  behind,  until  in  the 
decade  between  1840  and  1850,  she  passed  Georgia,  Indiana,  Kentucky,  Massa 
chusetts,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee  and  her  old  mother,  Virginia.  The  proud 
position  which  she  then  attained,  of  being  the  fourth  State  in  the  Union,  she  yet 
occupies.  Whether  at  the  close  of  the  present  decade — and  the  race  is  close — 
she  will  have  passed  Ohio  in  the  friendly  rivalry  f®r  precedence,  can  only  be  de 
termined  by  the  eleventh  census. 

Naturally,  the  Prairie  State,  if  the  first  in  agriculture,  leading  all  others  in 
the  yield  of  wheat,  corn,  rye  and  oats,  the  total  value  of  which  in  1880  was 
nearly  $150,000,000.  By  adding  to  this  amount  the  value  of  her  other  farm  and 
orchard  products,  a  sum  was  reached,  which  exceeded  five  times  the  yield  of  gold 
and  silver  of  all  the  mines  in  the  entire  country. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  173 


But  the  lands  of  Illinois  are  hardly  less  valuable  on  account  of  what  is  found 
beneath  the  surface  than  for  what  is  raised  upon  it.  It  is  estimated  that  of  the 
195,407  square  miles  of  coal  area  in  the  United  States,  Illinois  possesses  36,800, 
nearly  one-fifth  of  the  whole,  producing  in  1886,  10,000,000  tons. 

Great  as  is  the  magnitude  of  her  agricultural  and  mineral  productions,  she  is 
becoming  no  less  distinguished  on  account  of  the  development  of  her  manufac 
turing  interests  and  her  commercial  growth.  She  is  the  fourth  State  in  the 
amount  of  capital  invested  in  manufactures  (over  $140,000,000),  and  the  third 
State  .in  the  value  of  goods  manufactured  ($414,864,673). 

Illinois  is  also  the  first  State  in  her  facilities  for  the  transportation  of  her 
immense  productions  to  market,  having  a  greater  railroad  mileage  than  any  other 
State,  with  all  the  necessary  equipments,  including,  no  doubt,  her  fair  show  of 
"  watered  stock."  [Laughter.] 

Her  name  and  fame  indeed  are  known  and  recognized  the  world  over;  the 
delightful  music  which  has  so  often  charmed  us  at  this  meeting,  and  which  we 
have  so  much  enjoyed,  is  furnished  by  the  band  from  Elgin,  Illinois.  [Applause.] 

When  in  1861,  the  call  of  arms  was  heard,  to  put  down  the  rebellion,  Illi 
nois  was  among  the  first  to  respond,  and  during  the  war  (with  the  single  excep 
tion  of  the  new  State  of  Kansas,  which  had  a  preponderance  of  males),  she 
furnished  a  larger  number  of  troops  in  proportion  to  population  than  any  other 
State. 

It-was  Illinois  that  gave  birth  to  that  statesman,  patriot  and  soldier,  admit 
tedly  the  first  of  volunteer  Generals,  the  commander  who  never  lost  a  battle, 
John  A.  Logan.  [Great  applause.] 

It  was  the  great  war  Governor  of  Illinois,  Richard  Yates,  whose  hand  signed 
the  first  commission  of  that  son  of  Ohio,  whose  name  and  deeds  are  the  heritage 
of  our  common  country  and  the  world,  that  commander  of  deathless  fame,  Ulys 
ses  S.  Grant.  [Great  applause.] 

It  was  Illinois,  too,  that  was  first  to  recognize  and  honor  the  unsullied  char 
acter,  the  broad  statesmanship,  and  incomparable  genius  of  her  adopted  son,  the 
illustrious  Lincoln.  [Great  applause.] 

The  limit  of  these  remarks  will  not  permit  me  to  speak  ef  the  educational, 
correctional  and  benevolent  institutions  of  Illinois,  which  vie  in  their  influence 
and  administrative  ability  with  those  of  any  other  State.  Nor  have  I  mentioned 
those  things  in  which  she  surpasses  others,  with  a  view  to  invidious  comparisons, 
but  to  show  that  her  citizens  have  borne  only  their  just  part  in  the  great  respon 
sibilities  of  statehood  resting  upon  them. 

Neither  need  I  speak  of  her  imperial  city,  which,  sixty  years  ago,  was  stated 
in  the  gazetteers  to  be  a  small  village  in  Pike  county,  now  two  hundred  miles 
distant.  The  future  of  a  city  whose  growth  has  been  a  source  of  common  pride 
to  all  who  dwell  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  is  not  ours  to  forecast.  Nor 
can  we  presage  the  advance  of  the  mighty  sisterhood  of  States  of  which  it  is  the 


174  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


metropolis.  It  may  be  that  when  our  children's  children  shall  gather  to  celebrate 
the  second  Centennial,  the  first  of  which  we  commemorate  to-day,  they  will  wit 
ness  triumphs  of  civilization  far  exceeding  those  which  we  now  behold.  It  only 
remains  to  us  to  hope  that  the  record  we  shall  leave  behind  us  be  so  pure,  bright 
and  patriotic,  that  they  may  cherish  it  with  a  veneration  second  only  to  that 
with  which  we  regard  the  memory  of  those  whose  patriotism  and  worth  we 
honor  to-day — the  sterling  pioneers  of  1788.  [Applause.] 

Mr.  Belknap  :     The  programme  of  the  afternoon  will  close 
with  music  by  the  Elgin  Band. 

After  music  by  the  Elgin  Band,  the  audience  dispersed. 


WEDNESDAY,  JULY  18,   1888—9  A.  M. 

CENTENNIAL     HALL. 

Programme, 

Hon.  George  M.  Woodbridge,  temporary  Chairman. 
MUSIC. 

9  A.  M Social  Re-union. 

10 — INVOCATION Rev.  Addison  Kingsbury,  D.  D.,  Pioneer  Minister,  1838. 

CENTENNIAL  ODE — SARONI. 

Welcome  to  the  City,  by  Hon.  Josiah  Coulter,  Mayor,  who  will  present  a  gavel, 
the  gift  of  the  Women's  Centennial  Association,  to 

Hon.  Jos.  B,  Foraker,  Governor  of  Ohio, 
And  by  him  to  be  given  to  General  Thomas  Ewing,  President  of  the  day. 

ADDRESS General  Thomas  Ewing. 

SOLO — "  Auld  Lang  Syne".... Miss  Phebe  Brown. 

ODE — Prepared  for  the  Celebration  by  Rev.  W.  L.  Lee,  D.  D.,  delivered  by 

.  himself, 

PATRIOTIC   SONG "STAR   SPANGLED    BANNER." 

Short  Speeches  and  Reminiscences Doxology. 

Benediction...  ...Rev.  William  Herr,  Pioneer  Minister,  1828. 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       175 


FINALE — "HOME,    SWEET   HOME." 

The  gavel  will  be  sealed  in  a  case,  which  will  be  deposited  in  the  fire-proof 
treasury  at  the  court-house,  to  be  preserved  unopened  until  the  bi-Centennial  of 


AFTERNOON—  2:30  O'CLOCK. 

Lieutenant-Governor  Wm.  C.  Lyon,  of  Ohio,  presiding. 
MUSIC. 

ORATION Senator  J.  W.  Daniel,  of  Virginia. 

MUSIC. 


EVENING— 8  O'CLOCK. 


Flambeau  Drill  by  Uniformed  Rank  K.  of  P.  and  Knights  of  St.  George. 

Reception  by  the  Governor  and  Mrs.  Foraker,  with  other  distinguished  guests,  at 

Centennial  Hall. 

MUSIC   BY   ELGIN    BAND. 


MORNING  SESSION— Wednesday,  July  18,  1888. 


The  exercises  of  this  morning  commenced  at  9  o'clock, 
Hon.  George  Woodbridge,  of  Marietta,  one  of  the  oldest  citi 
zens,  temporary  Chairman.  For  an  hour,  the  audience,  which 
was  composed  of  many  early  families  and  their  descendants, 
enjoyed  a  social  reunion,  mingling  among  each  other  and  re 
peating  the  reminiscences  of  fifty  or  more  years  ago. 

12  C.B. 


376  REPORT    OF  THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

At  10  o'clock  the  meeting  was  called  to  order,  Rev.  Addi- 
son  Kingsbury,  D.  D.,  the  Pioneer  minister,  who  began  the 
service  in  1828,  offering  the  invocation. 

PRAYER    BY    THE    REV.    ADDISON    KINGSBURY,  D.    D. 

Almighty  and  Most  Merciful  God,  Whom  our  fathers  adored  and  trusted, 
and  Whom  we  recognize  as  the  Supreme  Ruler  and  Controller  of  States  and  Na- 
.tions,  as  of  individuals,  raising  up  the  instruments  to  accomplish  Thy  wise  and 
Hioly  purposes  in  the  founding  of  this  Nation,  and  in  opening  here  the  gates  of 
:the  great  Northwestern  Territory  for  its  enlargement  and  increased  influence  and 
^prosperity. 

We  thank  Thee  that  Thou  didst  give  us  not  only  a  George  Washington 
but  a  Martha  Washington  ;  not  only  a  Rufus  Putnam  but  a  Rowena  Putnam,  and 
•  other  heroic  women,  to  be  wives  and  mothers ;  who,  by  their  intelligence,  diffused 
light,  and  by  their  love  made  a  sweet  home  in  their  rude  and  ill-furnished  cabins; 
and  we  pray  that  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  the  men  and  women,  in  the  varied 
:  relations  of  life,  by  a  growing  intelligence  and  virtue,  may  adorn  and  enrich  our 
wide  domain  till  it  shall  be  more  and  more  pervaded  by  righteousness  and  tem 
perance,  and  godliness,  its  light  shall  illumine  other  Nations,  and  the  world  shall 
.be  filled  with  Thy  glory;  all  which  we  ask  in  the  name  of  Christ,  our  adorable 
^Redeemer,     Amen ! 


Then  followed  the  Centennial  Ode,  by  Prof.  Saroni,  ren 
dered  by  a  chorus  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  voices,  under  the 
leadership  of  the  author  : 


CENTENNIAL   ODE. 

RAISE  the  Lord  with  harp  and  song, 

To  us  this  day  He  gave, 
To  sing  our  fathers'  glorious  deeds, 

Their  deeds  so  true  and  brave. 

Full  hundred  years  ago 

A  band  of  heroes  brave 
Left  home,  and  peace,  and  plenty 

To  find,  perchance,  a  grave. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  177 


Beset  by  want  and  danger, 

No  fear  lurked  in  their  heart, 

They  all  had  but  the  one  resolve ; 
To  die — or  do  their  part. 

And  lo  !     They  had  the  blessing 

Of  Him  enthroned  above, 
And  with  one  hand  prepared  for  strife, 

Brought  with  them  peace  and  love. 

The  savage  hordes  against  them 

In  vain  their  arrows  hurled ; 
For  on  the  blood-stained  conquered  field 

Our  braves  their  flag  unfurled. 
And  now,  whence  erst  confusion  reigned 

And  crime  and  endless  strife, 
They  'stablished  law,  and  with  it  came 

A  new  and  peaceful  life. 

Then  Hail  to  the  glorious  braves 
That  feared  not  toil  nor  care, 

To  found  a  country  rich  and  great, 
A  country  vast  and  fair. 

And  Praise  the  Lord  with  harp  and  song ! 

To  us  this  day  He  gave, 
To  sing  our  fathers'  glorious  deeds, 
Their  deeds  so  true  and  brave, 
Praise  the  Lord ! 
Praise  the  Lord ! 


MARIETTA,  OHIO,  July  18,  1888. 


1/  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

Mr.  Woodbridge  :     The  next  regular  exercises  will  be  re 
marks  from  the  Mayor  of  the  City  of  Marietta,  Mr.  Coulter. 

Welcome  Address  of  jior\.  JosiaK  Coulter, 


MAYOR  OF  MARIETTA. 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  In  behalf  of  the  citizens  of  Marietta,  I  welcome' 
you  to  the  city  to  take  part  in  the  Centennial  Celebration,  the  celebration  of  the 
establishment  of  civil  government,  in  the  Northwest  territory.  His  .excellency, 
Gov.  J.  B.  Foraker,  (turning  to  the  Governor  who  stood  by  his  side),  by  request 
of  the  Women's  Centennial  Association,  of  Washington  county,  Ohio,  I  present 
to  you  the  gavel  to  be  presented  to  General  Ewing,  to  be  used  upon  this  occasion 
and  then  to  be  sealed  in  a  box,  and  placed  in  the  custody  of  the  Commissioners ; 
by  them  to  be  placed  in  a  fire-proof  room,  of  the  Washington  County  Court 
House,  for  safe  keeping,  until  it  shall  be  opened  on  the  next  centennial  in  1988. 

I  do  not  imagine,  sir,  that  either  you  or  I,  or  any  of  this  vast  audience  will 
be  present  to  see  the  box  opened ;  but  I,  for  one,  should  like  to  see  whether  our 
great  and  glorious  country  had  made  the  advance  towards  national  greatness  in 
the  next  one  hundred  years  that  it  has  in  the  past.  [Applause]. 


J^espor\se  of  QoV.  tl.  B.  Foraker, 


ON  PRESENTATION  OF  GAVEL. 


Gov.  Foraker : 

GEN.  EWING  :  You  are  an  Ohio  man.  [Applause.]  You  were  born  in  our 
State,  and  you  have  spent  here  most  of  your  life.  You  know,  therefore,  some 
thing  about  the  women  of  Ohio.  You  know  that  they  are  both  good  and 
beautiful.  [Applause.]  And  you  must  know,  also,  that  they  are  always  en 
gaged  in  doing  something  that  is  good.  [Applause.]  If  the  men  of  Ohio 
have  won  for  our  State  honor,  and  distinction,  and  renown,  in  the  past  century, 
it  has  been  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  they  have  had  the  constant  encouragement 
and  assistance  of  the  women  of  Ohio. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  179 


In  that  respect  they  are  the  worthy  descendants  and  representatives  of  the 
noble  women  who  so  greatly  and  grandly  aided  our  forefathers  in  the  achieve 
ment  of  American  Independence,  and  in  laying  here  the  foundation  of  civil 
government  for  this  Northwest  Territory.  [Applause.] 

These  women  of  Ohio  have  labored  earnestly  and  zealously  to  bring  forth 
this  celebration.  In  that  behalf  they  organized  what  they  have  called  a  "  Wo 
men's  Centennial  Association;"  and  it  has  been  a  most  powerful  agency  in 
achieving  the  success  which  we  have  here  enjoyed. 

These  women,  Gen.  Ewing,  remember  you.  How  could  they  forget  you  ? 
[La  ighter  and  applause.]  They  remember  you,  sir,  as  a  gallant  soldier,  and  a 
distinguished  son  of  Ohio  ;  and  they  remember  you,  also,  as  a  member  of  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  and  most  honored  families  of  our  great  State.  [Ap 
plause.] 

Your  action,  therefore,  in  coming  here  upon  their  invitation  to  participate 
in  these  exercises,  has  been  most  gratifying  to  them  indeed.  They  appreciate  the 
compliment  you  paid  them,  and  the  honor  that  you  do  us.  They  have  been 
anxious,  therefore,  to  give  in  some  proper  way  an  appropriate  testimonial  of  their 
appreciation  for  your  action  in  so  doing,  and  for  the  sentiment  and  the  occasion 
on  account  of  which  we  have  convened.  With  that  object  in  view,  they  have 
caused  to  be  prepared  this  beautiful  gavel,  and  have  commissioned  me  to  present 
it  to  you,  with  the  request  that  you  will  use  it  as  your  badge  and  token  of  au 
thority  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  upon  which  you  are  about  to  enter,  and 
that  when  you  are  done  with  it,  instead  of  carrying  it  off  with  you  to  New  York, 
[laughter]  you  will  cause  it  to  be  placed  in  this  box,  which  is  a  wooden  box  on 
the  outside,  but  a  copper  box  on  the  inside,  and  then  have  it  placed,  as  the  Major 
has  just  indicated,  in  a  fire-proof  vault,  for  preservation  through  the  next  century, 
and  for  use  on  the  occasion  of  the  celebration  of  the  Second  Centennial  Anniver 
sary  of  the  institution  of  civil  government  here,  by  him  who  will  then  be  honored 
with  the  privilege  of  officiating,  as  you  are  to  officiate  to-day. 

The  gavel  is  made  of  wood,  as  you  see,  and  it  is  ornamented  and  bound  with 
silver.  The  handle  of  the  gavel  is  taken  from  the  door  of  that  one  of  the 
block-houses  of  Campus  Martius,  in  which  Gov.  St.  Clair  had  his  headquarters, 
and  in  which  was  held  the  first  court  of  justice  that  was  ever  convened  in  the 
Northwest  Territory. 

That  portion  of  this  gavel  is  intended  to  remind  us  of  the  civil  government 
that  our  fathers  have  established,  and  at  the  same  time  of  the  dangers  they  en 
countered  in  that  behalf,  and  of  the  heroism,  and  valor,  and  soldier-like  qualities 
they  were  called  upon  to  display,  to  the  end  that  they  might  maintain,  uphold 
and  enforce  that  government.  [Applause.] 

The  hammer,  or  mallet  part  of  this  gavel,  is  taken  from  the  wood  used  in 
the  first  school-house  ever  built  on  Ohio  soil,  and  is  intended  to  remind  us  of  the 
wisdom  that  has  been  so  abundantly  demonstrated  in  our  experience  of  the  dec' 
laration  of  the  ordinance  which  proclaimed  that  knowledge,  among  other  things, 
was  necessary  to  good  government.  [Applause.] 


ISO      REPORT  OF  THE  COMMISSIONERS  OF  THE 


.  And  the  silver  with  which  the  mallet  is  ornamented  is  intended  to  represent 
the  unspeakable  beauty  and  symmetry  of  the  governmental  structure  which  our 
fathers  have  erected  [applause],  and  the  imperishable  value  of  the  blessings 
that  have  followed  therefrom  and  that  are  hereafter,  we  trust,  to  follow  there 
from  for  the  benefit  of  mankind.  [Renewed  applause.] 

The  directions  which  these  ladies  have  given  as  to  the  preservation  and  fu 
ture  use  of  this  gavel  indicate  the  unbounded,  unfaltering,  womanlike  confidence 
of  these  women  in  the  perpetuity  of  American  institutions. 

I  give  you  this  gavel,  sir,  with  these  simple  explanations,  in  the  hope,  and  in 
the  firm  belief,  that  the  confidence  which  these  women  have  thus  manifested 
is  through  the  mercy  and  goodness  of  God,  not  to  be  disappointed,  but  justified 
and  realized.  [Applause.] 


Response   of  J-Ion.  JKomas  ZWir\g 


ON  RECEIVING  THE  GAVEL. 


Governor  Foraker,  I  thank  you  for  the  complimentary  terms  in  which  you 
have  presented  me  this  interesting  and  useful  memento.  I  do  not  flatter  myself 
that  the  distinguished  honor  of  presiding  on  this  occasion  has  been  conferred 
upon  me  by  the  "Women's  Centennial  Association,"  from  any  merit  or  service  of 
my  own. 

I  am  proud  to  remember  that  I  am  a  son  of  Thomas  Ewing  [applause], 
and  a  grandson  of  George  Ewing,  one  of  the  pioneers,  whose  settlement  we 
commemorate  to-day. 

I  have  accepted  with  great  pleasure  the  duties  imposed  upon  me  here.  I 
will  use  the  gavel  to-day,  and  then  place  it  in  the  strong  box  until  the  next  cen 
tennial,  when  another  assemblage  of  the  descendants  of  the  pioneers  will  convene 
upon  this  plain,  and  when  some  elderly  gentlemen,  a  grandson  or  a  great  grand 
son,  of  one  of  this  audience,  will  take  the  gavel  from  its  repository  and  again  use 
it  as  the  symbol  of  authority  and  order  in  that  assemblage.  And  so  from  genera 
tion  to  generation,  from  century  to  century  will  this  gavel  be  used,  as  long  as 
education,  and  liberty  regulated  by  law  shall  be  preserved,  honored  and  prized  in 
what  was  once  the  Northwest  Territory.  [Applause"]. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  l8l 


Address   of  JMr.   Woodbridge, 


TEMPORARY  CHAIRMAN. 


I  cannot  remember  the  position  that  I  have  occupied  for  a  few  moments 
without  thanking  those,  the  ladies  who  desired  that  I  should  act  as  temporary 
chairman  of  this  meeting.  God  bless  them  and  make  them  successful  ever,  as 
they  have  been  in  this  enterprise. 

In  my  boyhood  days  I  heard  much  of  Thomas  Ewing,  the  salt-boiler.  He 
lived  out  here  in  the  hills.  And  so  great  was  his  desire  for  knowledge,  that  by 
the  light  of  the  embers  he  studied  his  books  and  gained  knowledge.  After  a 
time  he  was  possessed  with  a  wish  to  have  further  opportunities.  He  had  no 
money  to  meet  the  expenses  of  a  college  education,  and  he  went  off,  season  after 
season,  to  Charleston,  and  there  boiled  salt  and  made  money  to  pay  his  tuition,, 
and  came  out  of  the  institution  of  which  he  was  a  member  with  honors — I  had 
almost  said,  untold.  I  remember  well  that  the  professors  of  that  college  stimu 
lated  the  young  men  of  the  country  to  effort  by  telling  them  what  Thomas 
Ewing,  the  salt-boiler,  had  done. 

After  a  while  he  became  a  lawyer.  He  was  cotemporary  with  Bonn  and! 
Peters  and  Stansbury  and  Wirt  and  the  great  men  of  that  profession,  and  he  was 
the  peer  of  them  all.  He  became  a  statesman,  and  as  a  statesman  he  lived  when 
Clay,  and  Webster  and  Benton  and  Cass,  and  Calhoun,  and  John  Quincy  Adams 
were  upon  the  stage ;  and  they  all  loved  him;  they  admired  him  on  account  of 
his  integrity  and  his  ability. 

He  has  gone  to  the  grave !  The  lone  and  melancholy  winds  hold  a  requiem 
of  his  departure  as  they  moan  their  leafy  wail  around  his  grave.  But  it  is  said 
he  is  not  dead.  That  we  have  in  "Young  Tom"  the  personification  of  the  father; 
that  he  is  a  chip  off  the  old  block.  [Applause].  That  the  mantel  of  the  father 
has  fallen  upon  him.  Believing  that  to  be  so,  I  take  pleasure  this  morning  in 
introducing  to  this  audience  the  Hon.  Thomas  Ewing,  who  just  now  spoke  to 
you  in  ways  that  I  know  charmed  you.  He  will  preside  over  your  deliberations 
during  the  hour,  and  will  address  you  upon  subjects  that  will  interest  you  very 
much.  I  take  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  the  Hon.  Thomas  Ewing.  [Ap 
plause]. 

General  Ewing  then  stepped  forward,  amid  great  applause,, 
to  make  his  address. 


1 82  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


/\ddress   of   Hor\.   TKomas  EWirvg, 


OF  NEW  YORK. 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  In  this  Centennial  Celebration  of  the  first  set 
tlement  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  and  the  establishment  of  civil  government 
therein,'to-day  has  been  set  apart  for  special  commemoration  of  the  pioneers,  by 
their  descendants.  As  a  grandson  of  George  Ewing,  who  was  one  of  the  early 
settlers,  and,  like  almost  all  of  them,  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  I  have  the 
honor  and  pleasure  to  preside  on  this  occasion. 

We  assemble  here  with  the  representatives  of  the  commonwealths  of  Vir 
ginia  and  New  York,  who  gave  the  Northwest  Territory  to  the  Republic,  and  of 
those  young  and  powerful  States  formed  of  it,  to  commemorate  the  glorious  and 
beneficent  event.  But  many  of  us  come  with  more  than  the  general  interest  of 
American'patriots  in  the  occasion.  We  are  the  descendants  of  that  immortal 
band,  through  whose  enterprise,  statesmanship  and  love  of  their  fellow-man,  this 
•wilderness  was  settled,  and  the  foundations  of  freedom  in  the  new  republic  laid. 
A  hundred  years  ago,  in  block-houses  and  stockades  built  on  yonder  plain,  where 
the  lovely  Muskingum  pours  her  floods  to  the  still  more  beautiful  Ohio,  our 
fathers  and  mothers  lived  in  the  forest ;  tilled  their  patches  of  corn,  fed  their 
cows,  hunted  game  and  marched  in  procession  each  Sunday  to  church,  in  armed 
and  incessant  preparation  against  the  savage.  Their  mutual  loves,  trusts,  sorrows, 
sacrifices,  and  all  the  noble  passions  born  of  'common  trials,  bravely  met,  have 
vanished  from  earth,  but  have  purified  and  strengthened  them  for  a  nobler  life 
above.  With  what  happiness  do  they  not  look  down  to-day  on  their  descend 
ants  assembled  here  in  proud  and  loving  remembrance  of  their  deeds  ?  On  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  scattered  over  the  republic,  who  are  honored  in  being 
known  as  their  kinsmen  ?  On  the  great  plain  of  forest  and  prairie  bounded  by 
the  Ohio,  the  Mississippi  and  the  lakes,  which,  when  they  settled  here,  was  in 
habited  only  by  wandering  savages,  and  which  now  comprises  the  homes  and 
temples  of  thirteen  millions  of  people,  in  five  great  States,  as  prosperous,  intel 
ligent  and  humane  as  any  on  earth — the  earliest  daughters  of  the  Republic — the 
first  States  planted  in  the  soil  of  American  liberty  and  ripened  in  its  sun. 

All  people  celebrated  those  events  of  their  national  life  which  most  strongly 
illustrate  their  character  and  gratify  their  pride  and  aspirations.  Among  the 
notable  events  of  American  history,  from  Columbus  to  Lincoln,  I  know  of  none 
which  more  deserves  general  and  perpetual  commemoration  than  this.  I  in 
clude,  of  course,  not  only  the  migration  of  our  forefathers  to  "  The  Ohio  Coun 
try,"  but  also  the  great  charter  of  freedom,  which  they  caused  to  be  enacted  as  a 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  183 


condition  precedent  to  their  settlement,  and   bore   with  them  as  the  ark  of  the 
covenant  to  the  promised  land. 

Thitherto  our  settlements — along  the  northern  line  where  they  were  resisted 
by  the  savages — had  pushed  westward  cautiously,  hugging  the  frontier;  creeping 
like  an  infant  close  to  its  mother's  knees.  This  was  the  first  stride  of  population, 
the  first  wave  of  the  great  tide,  hitherto  unexampled  in  human  history,  which 
rose  and  surged  and  swept  on  across  the  continent.  That  ambition  and  high 
spirit  of  adventure ;  that  noble  discontent,  -\vith  mean  and  cramped  environ 
ment  ;  that  longing  and  struggling  for  larger  opportunities,  and  higher  fields  of 
action,  which  are  now  characteristics  of  the  American  people,  have  had  their 
opportunities  and  their  consequent  growth  in  the  migrations  among  which  this 
stands  first  in  time  and  in  result  pre-eminent. 

The  Alleghenies  and  the  great  rivers  were  barriers  deep  and  high  between 
the  old  States  and  the  Northwest  Territory,  which  the  tomahawk  of  the  savage 
guarded  from  individual  settlement.  The  warlike  Shawnees,  Wyandots  and 
Ottawas,  who  had  been  fighting  the  colonies  for  thirty  years — in  the  pay  of  the 
French  before  the  revolution,  and  in  that  of  the  British  during  and  after  it — 
were  still  armed  and  hostile.  Great  Britain  had  signed  a  treaty  of  peace  at  Ver 
sailles  in  1783,  in  which,  after  long  resistance  and  with  great  reluctance,  she  rec 
ognized  our  claims  to  the  Northwest  Territory.  But  this  concession  was  mortify 
ing  to  the  ruling  classes  in  England,  and  ••caused  the  downfall  of  Lord  Shelburne's 
cabinet,  which  had  made  a  treaty.  A  resolution  of  censure  was  voted  by  the 
commons — North,  who  led  the  opposition,  declaring  that  "  the  minister  should 
have  retained  for  Canada  all  the  country  north  and  w?st  of  the  Ohio."  This 
resolution  was  adopted  by  the  Lords  after  a  debate,  which  attracted  the  largest 
assemblage  of  peers  of  the  reign  of  George  III — in  which  debate  the  complaint 
was  that  Lord  Shelburne  "  had  given  up  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  the  Paradise  of 
America.''  The  Coalition  cabinet,  led  by  Fox  and  Lord  North,  which  followed, 
and  the  succeeding  ministries,  resorted  to  every  artifice  and  subterfuge  to  retain 
the  Territory.  In  open  violation  of  the  treaty,  they  still  held  and  garrisoned  all 
the  Western  forts,  where  the  hostile  savages  always  found  sympathy  and  support. 
They  went  so  far  as  to  build  and  strongly  garrison  a  new  fort  called  Fort  Miami, 
where  the  town  of  Perrysburg,  Ohio,  now  stands.  Early  in  1794,  Lord  Dor 
chester,  having  just  arrived  from  London,  addressed  an  Indian  Council  on  the 
Maumee,  and  predicted  an  early  renewal  of  hostilities  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States.  Thereupon,  Congress  laid  an  embargo  on  all  British  vessels; 
and  the  House  passed  a  joint  resolution  of  non-intercourse  with  Great  Britain 
until  she  should  abandon  the  western  forts,  which  was  defeated  in  the  Senate  by 
the  casting  vote  of  Vice-President  Adams.  The  Confederation  was  too  poor  and 
dispirited — and  too  much  distracted  by  rival  claims  to  the  Territory  set  up  by 
New  York  and  Virginia — to  conquer  the  Ravages  and  eject  the  British.  General 
William  Henry  Harrison  once  said  that  the  Revolutionary  war  was  not  over  until 


184  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


August  20,  1794 — six  years  after  the  settlement  at  Marietta — when  "  Mad  An 
thony  "  Wayne,  under  the  eyes  and  guns  of  the  garrison  of  Fort  Miami,  crushed 
the  savages  and  extinguished  the  hopes  of  their  British  allies. 

Throughout  the  five  years  from  the  close  of  the  Revolution  to  the  settlement 
at  Marietta,  the  dominion  of  the  Northwest  had  been  thus  drifting  away  from 
the  feeble,  discordant,  ungoverned  Confederacy.  To  save  it  from  being  lost  to 
the  New  Republic,  it  was  indispensable  that  Virginia  and  New  York  should  sur 
render  their  claims  to  its  ownership.  This  they  did  in  due  time,  and  with  lofty 
generosity  and  patriotism.  It  was  then  necessary  that  the  Confederation  at  once 
sell  lands  to  agricultural  and  semi-military  colonies,  and  pass  a  law  for  the  gov 
ernment  of  the  Territory.  This  it  did  by  its  contract  with  the  Ohio  Company, 
and  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787 — both  acts  being  passed  in  July  of  that  year. 

This  legislation  was  obtained  only  by  the  patient  and  persistent  efforts  of 
leading  members  of  the  Ohio  Company,  aided  by  the  constant  and  powerful  in 
fluence  of  Washington.  Their  efforts  began  at  Newburgh,  on  the  Hudson,  in 
1783,  when  our  army  lay  in  its  encampment  there,  awaiting  the  conclusion  of 
peace.  A  petition  to  the  Continental  Congress  was  prepared  and  signed  by  283 
officers  and  enlisted  men,  setting  forth  the  necessity  of  taking  the  territory  out 
of  the  possession  and  control  of  Great  Britain,  and  expressing  the  desire  of  the 
petitioners  to  receive  their  arrears  of  pay  in  parcels  of  land  comprising  a  compact 
and  eligible  body  to  be  selected  and  set  apart  for  settlement  by  them. 

The  petitioners  were  generally  poor.  After  eight  years  of  service  away  from 
their  homes,  their  businesses  were  closed  against  them.  To  the  loss  of  aptitude 
and  opportunity  for  civil  pursuits,  which  are  the  common  and  heavy  penalties  for 
patriotic  service  in  the  army,  were  added  the  exhaustion  of  private  resources 
through  the  almost  worthlessness  of  the  money  in  which  they  were  paid,  and 
finally  the  failure  to  pay  them  at  all.  They  were  bound  to  each  other  by  memo 
ries  of  their  long  and  eventful  military  career,  by  a  common  love  of  adventure, 
and  a  desire,  as  they  had  to  begin  life  anew,  to  begin  it  in  the  new  country  and 
in  a  settlement  of  soldiers  who,  inured  to  hardships  and  familiar  with  dangers, 
could  take  care  of  themselves.  This  petition  to  Congress  was  entrusted  to  their 
beloved  commander — to  him  towards  whom  throughout  the  long  night  of  the 
Revolution  all  eyes  had  turned,  as  to  that  Northern  star — 

"  Of  whose  true-fixed,  and  resting  quality, 
There  is  no  fellow  in  the  firmament." 

Washington  urgently  pressed  their  petition  on  the  attention  of  the  Continen 
tal  Congress,  then  sitting  at  Princeton.  No  action  wa»  taken.  He  presented 
and  urged  it  again  to  the  Congress  when  sitting  at  Annapolis.  Still,  even  his 
appeals  failed  to  arouse  that  body  to  a  sense  of  the  justice  and  sound  policy  of 
the  proposed  legislation.  I  have  heard  my  father  say  that  Mr.  Webster  once 
showed  him  a  pamphlet  published  at  Salem,  Massachusetts,  in  1786,  which  set 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  185 


forth  in  glowing  and  truthful  terms  the  attractive  character  of  "The  Ohio  Coun 
try,"  and  the  necessity  of  taking  prompt  possession  of  it  by  a  semi-military  col 
ony.  It  described  the  splendid  rivers  and  lakes  which  bounded  the  territory, 
and  distinctly  prophesied  that  ere  long  steam  would  be  applied  to  navigation 
upon  them.  The  pamphlet  was  anonymous,  but  Mr.  Webster  said  its  reputed 
author  was  Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler,  to  whose  keen  intellect,  and  ready  tongue  and 
pen  the  Company  was  indebted  for  the  legislation  which  gave  it  success.  It  was 
prepared,  no  doubt,  after  General  Tupper's  tour  to  the  West,  in  the  fall  of  1785, 
and  about  the  date  of  the  organization  of  The  Ohio  Company,  at  the  "  Bunch  of 
Grapes  Tavern,"  in  Boston,  March  i,  1786.  It  was  only  by  means  of  such  efforts 
and  influences,  protracted  through  four  years,  that  the  Continental  Congress  was 
sufficiently  aroused  to  the  importance  of  holding  and  occupying  the  Northwest 
Territory,  to  give  the  pioneers  the  legislation  indispensable  to  their  great  under 
taking. 

This  legislation  having  been  obtained,  a  bold  act  by  The  Ohio  Company — a 
bugle  call — was  needed  to  command  the  attention  of  the  American  people  and 
demonstrate  at  once  the  practicability  and  the  method  of  settlement  here.  Such 
an  act  was  the  march  of  Putnam's  band  from  Massachusetts  to  Marietta,  com 
mencing  at  Danvers,  early  in  December,  1787,  and  ending  on  this  spot,  April  7, 
1788.  The  physical  difficulties  to  be  overcome  on  the  way,  and  the  dangers 
attending  the  settlement,  would  have  appalled  any  but  the  hardiest  of  men  im 
pelled  by  a  great  and  unselfish  purpose.  Many  large  rivers  had  to  be  crossed, 
dense  forests  traversed,  and  pathless  mountains  covered  with  snow,  where  no 
wheeled  vehicle  could  be  moved  and  no  supplies  obtained ;  and  the  colony  had 
to  settle  down  in  the  wilderness  beyond  the  mountains  and  the  great  river,  there 
to  support  itself  by  agriculture,  surrounded  by  armed  and  hostile  savages  who 
were  incited  to  violence  by  the  British  garrisons,  with  no  reserved  resources,  and 
with  a  mere  semblance  of  a  government,  five  hundred  miles  away,  too  poor  and 
inert  to  help  it  even  in  the  direst  extremity. 

Putnam's  bold  and  successful  expedition  excited  the  wonder  and  admiration 
of  the  country.  It  dispelled  the  fears  which  had  enveloped  the  unknown.  It 
called  back  to  the  landless  people  of  the  States,  cursed  by  monopoly  under  large 
grants  from  kings'  and  lords'  proprietors,  to  come  west  and  own  homes  and  govern 
themselves,  in  the  glorious  expanse  which  belonged  to  all  the  American  people. 
New  Jersey  heard  the  call,  and  Symmes  followed  in  the  same  year  with  his  colony 
to  the  Miamis.  Virginia  heard  it,  and  her  patriotic  soldiers  eagerly  took  posses 
sion  of  the  lands  between  the  Scioto  and  the  Little  Miami,  reserved  for  them  in 
the  act  of  cession.  The  impoverished  soldiers  of  the  other  colonies  came  flock 
ing  ;  and  thus  the  veterans  of  all  the  thirteen  States,  who  had  together  shed  their 
blood  on  the  battle-fields  of  the  Revolution,  again  commingled  it  in  the  genera 
tions  which  have  since  given  Ohio  her  proud  pre-eminence.  O,  glorious  State! 
O,  nobly  born !  If  there  be  a  State  of  the  Union  which  may  boast  of  the  pre- 


[86  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


eminence  of  her  soldiers  and  statesmen  for  a  generation  gone  by,  without  offense 
to  her  sisters,  surely  Ohio  may.  For  is  not  she  the  first-born  of  the  Republic  ;  of 
the  blood  of  heroes  from  all  the  colonies;  the  first  typical,  composite,  American 
State?  And  were  not  the  children  of  these  heroes  born  poor,  strengthened  in 
mind  and  body  by  strenuous  effort,  reared  in  communities  cursed  by  neither 
rank,  luxury,  nor  hopeless  poverty ;  under  a  government  devoted  to  freedom,  in 
telligence  and  Christian  morality,  and  in  a  new  land  so  blest  in  sky,  soil  and 
waters  as  to  seem  to  have  been  especially  fitted  by  the  Almighty  for  the  highest 
development  of  man. 

Probably  no  large  migrations  of  men  occur  without  a  special  Divine  pur 
pose  and  direction.  The  exodus  of  the  children  of  Israel  Irom  Egypt  was  visibly 
and  audibly  under  God's  guidance  as  a  preparation  for  the  Messiah.  The  hordes 
of  Goths  and  visi-goths,  whom  the  populous  North 

"Poured  from  her  frozen  loins  to  pass 
Rhene  or  the  Danaw," 

were  sent  to  invigorate  the  effeminate  Latin  races  they  subdued  by  the  admix 
ture  of  hardier  blood.  The  Crusaders,  though  they  failed  in  the  pious  and  am 
bitious  aims  of  centuries  of  struggle,  brought  from  the  seats  of  civilization  on 
the  Mediterranean  a  knowledge  of  mathematics,  literature  and  song,  which  civ 
ilized  and  softened  our  savage  ancestors.  The  landing  on  Plymouth  Rock  of  a 
band  of  that  stern  and  God-fearing  democracy  who  smote  the  first  Charles  and 
were  smitten  by  the  second,  foreordained  the  separation  of  the  colonies  from  the 
crown.  None  of  these  migrations,  save  that  of  the  Israelites,  was  more  surely 
umder  Divine  guidance  than  this  or  was  followed  by  more  beneficient  and  far 
reaching  results.  In  this  movement  the  Divine  purpose  apparently  was  to  open 
the  interior  of  this  almost  unoccupied  continent  to  a  settlement  by  the  oppressed 
and  hardy  poor,  not  only  of  the  colonies,  but  also  of  Europe,  where  each  family 
could  dwell  under  its  own  vine  and  fig-tree  ;  to  found  States,  for  the  first  time  in 
human  history,  in  that  liberty  and  equality  for  which  Sidney  died,  and  which 
Jefferson  proclaimed  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence ;  and  through  the  in 
fluence  of  such  new  States  to  establish  freedom  and  equal  rights  throughout  the 
Republic,  and  in  time  throughout  the  world. 

The  curse  of  land  monopoly  had  blighted  most  of  the  colonies.  The  grants 
to  the  Duke  of  York,  Lord  Delaware,  Lord  Baltimore,  Lord  Fairfax  and  others, 
covered  vast  domains  of  the  best  lands  which  had  been  sold  by  them  generally  in 
large  tracts  to  wealthy  holders.  The  evils  of  large  holdings  was  being  fostered 
and  perpetuated  in  many  States  by  laws  of  primogeniture  and  entail,  and  by 
limiting  suffrage  and  offices  to  landowners,  thus  establishing,  as  far  as  practicable, 
a  landed  aristocracy. 

A  second  curse  was  slavery — the  twin  and  ally  of  land  monopoly  ;  both  op 
erating  to  degrade  labor;  both  repelling  immigration  of  poor  white  men;  both 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  1 87 


enemies  of  democratic-republican  government.  In  the  heat  of  the  struggle  for 
Independence,  The  thirteen  revolted  colonies,  except  Rhode  Island  and  Connec 
ticut,  abolished  their  royal  charters  and  formed  State  governments.  One  would 
expect  to  find  in  these  Lattle-born  constitutions  broad  and  effectual  declarations 
of  human  rights.  Yet  in  not  one  of  them  is  slavery  forbidden.  In  the  constitu 
tion  of  Delaware  alone  was  the  slave  trade,  or  the  introduction  of  slaves  from 
other  States,  prohibited.  In  the  Federal  constitution,  which  was  Being  formed 
by  a  convention  at  Philadelphia  when  the  Ordinance  of  '87  was  enacted  by  the 
Congress  in  New  York,  every  clause  which  touched  the  institution  of  slavery  was 
intended  to  protect  and  strengthen  it — the  clause  for  the  restoration  of  fugitive 

slaves — for  preventing  the  prohibition  of  the  African  slave-trade  prior  to  1808 

and  for  increased  representation  in  Congress  to  slave-holding  communities  in  pro 
portion  to  the  number  of  their  slaves.  In  the  original  draft  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  one  count  of  the  indictment  against  the  Crown  was  that  it  had 
fastened  slavery  on  the  colonies,  but  that  count  was  afterwards  stricken  out  as 
not  constituting  a  grievance.  The  slave-trade  which  British  greed  had  established 
was  carried  on  after  the  Revolutionary  War  under  the  American  Flag  in  ships 
sailing  from  Northern  ports ;  and  it  was  by  northern  votes  in  the  constitutional 
convention  that  the  traffic  was  protected  until  1808.  That  was  a  hard  saying  of 
Judge  Taney  in  the  Dred  Scot  case  that  in  the  opinion  of  those  who  formed  and 
ratified  the  Federal  Constitution,  "  black  men  had  no  rights  which  white  men 
were  bound  to  respect."  It  shocked  and  angered  the  North,  and  was  generally 
denounced  as  untrue.  The  declaration  was  too  broad,  but  if  limited  to  the  great 
majority  of  the  people,  it  was  true.  There  were  among  our  forefathers  many 
politicardisciples  of  Milton  Russell  and  Algernon  Sidney — who  worshipped  Lib 
erty  and  were  ready  to  die  in  her  cause.  Of  such  were  the  men  of  The  Ohio 
Company.  But  while  we  recollect  their  love  of  liberty — and  remember,  too,  how 
Jefferson,  looking  at  slavery  in  the  colonies  and  slave-trade  between  them,  exclaimed 
— "I  tremble  for  my  country  when  I  reflect  that  God  is  just" — we  are  painfully 
aware  of  the  fact  that  a  large  majority  of  the  American  press,  anM  public  men, 
and  people — North  and  South  alike — saw  nothing  to  condemn  in  African  slavery. 
In  fact,  it  was  forbidden  nowhere  in  Christendom,  and  every  commercial  nation 
was  engaged  in  the  inhuman  traffic. 

The  general  lack  of  the  vital  flame  of  democracy  in  the  Confederation  is 
further  illustrated  by  the  fact  that,  in  only  four  of  the  States — Virginia,  New 
York,  North  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island — was  there  absolute  freedom  of  religious 
opinion.  In  but  three — New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania — was 
there  provision  for  common  schools;  and  in  less  than  half  of  the  eleven  new  State 
constitutions  are  to  be  fouad  bills  of  rights  containing  the  habeas  corpus  and  other 
safeguards  of  liberty. 

From  a  Congress  representing  States,  the  most  of  which  were  so  deficient  in 
republican  life,  so  wedded  to  slavery  and  land  monopoly,  so  out  of  chord  with 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  forecast  and  determination  of  the  Ohio 
Company  rising  high  above  the  interests  and  political  morality  of  the  day,  se- 


1 88  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


cured  the  enactment  of  the  Ordinance  of  '87,  and  the  needed  legislation  for  sales 
of  the  public  lands  in  small  parcels,  with  liberal  reservations  for  schools  and 
colleges. 

The  Ordinance  of  '87,  for  which  the  world  is  indebted  so  largely  to  the 
Marietta  colony,  stands  first  and  pre-eminent  among  free  institutions  of  govern 
ment. 

All  the  great  fundamental  propositions  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  now 
recognized  as  the  American  Magna  Charta,  are  declared  therein  not  merely  for 
the  government  of  the  territory,  but  also  of  the  five  States  to  be  formed  there 
from  ;  and  for  a  perpetual  covenant  between  those  States  and  all  their  sisters, 
present  or  to  come.  These  guarantees  found  no  place  in  the  Federal  Constitu 
tion  until  four  years  after  the  passage  of  the  Ordinance,  when  they  were  incorpo 
rated  among  the  first  two  amendments.  It  is  worthy  of  special  note,  that  in  that 
Ordinance  the  Union  of  the  States  is  declared  to  be  forever  indissoluble.  The 
omission  of  a  similar  provision  from  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States — an 
omission  believed  to  have  been  necessary  to  effect  its  ratification — left  the  door 
ajar  for  secession,  and  contributed  largely  to  the  great  rebellion. 

The  limitless  expanse  of  rich  lands  in  the  west,  open  to  purchase  from  the 
government  at  low  prices,  on  long  credit,  and  in  small  parcels,  attracted  the  hardy 
and  homeless  sons  and  daughters  of  toil  from  the  original  States,  and  from  all 
northern  and  central  Europe.  The  tide  of  migration,  after  covering  Ohio,  swept 
on  to  the  Wabash,  to  the  Mississippi,  to  the  farthermost  shores  of  the  lakes,  unfil 
each  of  the  five  States  of  the  Northwest  took  her  constitutional  liberties  from 
the  Ordinance,  as  she  set  her  star  in  the  blue  field  of  the  Union.  Still  onward 
the  tide  of  migration  swept — beyond  the  Mississippi  to  the  Missouri ;  over  the 
Missouri  to  the  fabled  American  Desert,  across  the  so-called  desert  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains;  over  the  Rockies  to  the  Sierras;  and  down  the  Sierras  to  the  sea, 
until  eight  more  States  had  followed  the  example  of  the  five  formed  out  of  the 
Northwest  Territory.  And  at  last  the  constitutions  of  all  the  once  slave  States, 
and  the  Federal  Constitution  itself,  have  adopted  from  that  Ordinance  the  first 
words  of  prohibition  of  human  slavery  ever  enacted  into  law ;  the  most  benefi 
cent  and  imperishable  sentence  in  our  annals — which,  from  the  day  of  its  inser 
tion  in  the  Ordinance  of  '87,  tolled  the  knell  of  slavery  throughout  the  world : 
"There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  otherwise  than  in  pun 
ishment  of  crimes  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted." 

The  Marietta  colony  were  thus  in  a  large  sense  the  emancipators  of  the 
slaves,  and  the  architects  of  the  Republic.  They  led  into  the  Union  thirteen 
States  free  born,  which  never  wore  the  color  of  colonial  subjection,  or  bred  a 
slave,  or  had  a  religious,  land  or  money  qualification  for  office  or  suffrage ;  where 
men  owned  their  own  homes  and  tilled  their  own  fields ;  where  labor  was  blessed 
aad  honored  ;  States  which,  when  the  gauge  of  battle  was  flung  down  by  slavery ? 
welcomed  the  fight  with  an  enthusiasm  which  swept  all  before  it,  and,  by  destroy 
ing  slavery,  made  the  Republic  free,  fraternal  and  perpetual. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  189 


Sir  Archibald  Alison,  in  his  "  Principles  of  Population,"  printed  in  1840, 
speaks  with  wonder  and  admiration  of  the  migration  on  our  western  frontier — a 
vast  army  of  occupation,  moving  resistlessly,  with  a  front  of  a  thousand  miles, 
one  flank  resting  on  the  lakes,  the  other  on  the  gulf,  and  making  an  average  pro 
gress  of  seventeen  miles  per  year,  the  advance  column  felling  the  forest,  building 
cabins  and  farming  roughly,  while  behind  them  followed  another  column  of  more 
wealthy  settlers,  to  buy  out  the  pioneers  and  complete  the  work  of  agricultural 
improvement.  He  says  nothing  like  this  has  been  known  in  the  history  of  man ; 
and  he  fails  to  see  what  is  "  the  impelling  force."  Had  he  reflected  that  these 
men,  whether  coming  from  the  older  States  or  from  Europe,  had  almost  all  been 
tenants  and  paid  rent  for  their  homes  and  for  the  right  to  till  the  soil ;  and  that 
here,  under  our  generous  and  beneficent  policy,  each  settler  had  his  choice  of  land 
for  a  home  out  of  millions  of  acres,  under  a  government  deriving  all  its  powers 
from  the  settlers  themselves,  he  need  not  have  searched  further  for  "  the  impelling 
force"  which  sent  wave  after  wave  over  the  Atlantic  and  the  Alleghenies,  to 
spread  to  the  Pacific. 

The  lives  of  many  of  the  pioneers  have  been  published  and  others  may  still 
be  told  from  family  records  and  traditions.  They  were  men  such  as  rarely,  if  ever, 
united  in  so  small  a  community.  A  large  proportion  of  them  had  received  a 
collegiate  education.  Among  them  were  many  officers  of  the  Revolution ;  some 
of  high  rank  and  distinction  who  enjoyed  the  personal  friendship  and  confidence 
of  Washington  ;  and  without  known  exception  they  were  men  of  probity  and 
courage.  In  this  large  audience  are  many  of  their  descendants  who,  it  is  ex 
pected,  will  contribute  to  the  story  of  their  trials,  sufferings  and  joys.  For 
myself,  I  have  but  a  few  words  to  say  of  my  grandparents,  who  were  among  the 
early  settlers  here. 

Broken  in  fortune  by  a  military  service  which  extended  from  the  campaign 
against  Quebec,  a  year  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  to  the  close  of 
the  war  of  the  Revolution,  Lieutenant  George  Ewing  removed  with  his  family 
from  Cumberland  county,  New  Jersey,  to  West  Liberty,  in  "  the  pan-handle"  of 
Virginia,  where  he  made  a  temporary  home  in  1787 — a  year  before  the  first  set 
tlement  at  Marietta.  Here  my  father,  Thomas  Ewing,  was  born  December  28, 
1789.  Three  years  later  my  grandparents,  with  their  seven  children  and  all  their 
worldly  possessions,  floated  down  in  dug-outs  to  Marietta,  where  they  were  as 
signed  quarters  in  one  of  the  block-houses  on  Campus  Martius.  They  soon  after 
joined  a  colony  which  built  and  occupied  the  stockade  at  the  mouth  of  Olive 
Green  Creek,  on  the  Muskingum,  a  mile  or  two  above  where  the  pretty  town  of 
Beverly  now  stands.  I  once  visited  the  grave-yard  of  that  little  garrison,  and 
read  this  inscription  carved  by  my  grandfather  on  a  sandstone  which  he  erected 
over  the  body  of  one  of  his  comrades :  "  Here  lies  the  body  of  Abel  Sherman, 
who  fell  by  the  hand  of  the  savage,  August  23,  1792."  My  grandfather  kept  a 
full  and  interesting  journal  throughout  the  Revolutionary  War,  half  of  which 


I9O  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF   THE 


was  lost  at  the  pension  office,  and  the  other  half  is  one  of  the  priceless  treasures 
of  our  family  ;  but  his  diary  ended  with  his  military  service,  and  he  left  not  a  line 
about  his  life  in  the  stockades  at  Marietta  and  Olive  Green. 

In  1798  he  removed  from  the  Muskingum  to  Ames  township,  in  Athens 
county,  where  he  opened  a  farm  eight  miles  from  any  neighbors.  My  father  used 
to  tell  that  in  1804,  when  he  was  a  lad  of  about  fifteen,  he  was  at  work  in  his 
father's  corn-field  one  evening,  and  was  hailed  by  a  well  mounted  gentleman, 
who  wished  to  be  entertained  all  night.  Father,  with  prompt  hospitality,  took 
his  horse,  and  showed  him  into  the  cabin,  but  was  distressed  to  find  that  grand 
father  treated  him  with  marked  coldness.  Next  morning,  as  the  stranger  rode 
off  on  the  bridle  path  towards  Marietta,  Grandfather  said  with  great  feeling,  that 
that  man  was  Aaron  Burr,  who  slew  Alexander  Hamilton.  Burr  was  then  prose 
cuting  the  schemes  for  which  next  year  he  and  Blennerhasset  were  indicted  for 
treason.  Father  recollected  his  sprightly  conversation,  which  grandfather's  cold 
ness  could  not  chill.  He  also  remembered  seeing,  when  a  boy,  the  lovely  and 
unfortunate  Mrs.  Blennerhasset,  on  the  main  street  in  Marietta,  riding  a  spirited 
and  gaily  caparisoned  horse.  .She  was  dressed  in  a  scarlet  riding  habit,  with  an 
.ostrich  plume  in  her  hat — a  vision  of  beauty  to  this  child  of  the  forest.  She  had 
ridden  to  town  from  her  magnificent  island  home  near  by  to  do  some  shopping. 

In  looking  over  the  published  biographies  of  the  first  settlers  of  Marietta,  I 
find  next  to  nothing  about  the  pioneer  women,  whose  exposures  and  perils  called 
for  the  highest  courage  and  sacrifice.  The  men  were  generally  veterans  of  the 
army,  accustomed  to  personal  danger  and  exposure,  and  rarely  shaken  by  alarms. 
The  women  came  from  comfortable  homes,  and  braved  not  only  long  and  ex 
hausting  journeys  with  their  children,  but  also  the  perils  and  the  appalling  ter 
rors  of  the  savage.  The  men  built  the  cabins;  but  the  women  made  the  homes  > 

"  And  a  charm  o'er  each  scene  of  the  wilderness  threw 
More  sweet  than  the  noise  of  its  fountains." 

When  a  boy,  I  often  heard  from  the  now  silent  lips  of  women  of  that  era — 
from  the  accomplished  and  charming  Mrs.  General  Goddard,  of  Zanesvslle,  Mrs. 
King,  of  Lancaster,  Mrs.  Morgan,  of  Champaign  county,  and  from  my  father's 
sisters — tales  of  heroism  of  Ohio  women  which  seemed  to  me  loftier  and  finer 
than  any  of  the  published  tales  of  the  frontier.  I  have  a  letter  from  a  kinswoman 
in  Westfield,  N.  J.,  telling  me  of  a  trip  made  to  Cumberland  county,  in  that  State, 
in  the  year  1790,  by  a  woman  from  the  border  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  who 
came  there  after  a  long  absence,  on  a  last  visit  to  her  aged  father  and  mother. 
She  was  the  wife  of  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution  who  had  emigrated  to  the  far 
west  after  the  war  ended.  She  had  made  the  long  journey  from  the  Ohio,  over 
river  and  mountain,  by  flood  and  fell,  through  an  almost  trackless  wilderness,  on 
horseback,  unattended,  carrying  a  boy  baby  in  her  arms.  No  man  ever  boasted 


NATIONAL   CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION. 


of  his  lineage  with  loftier  pride  than  I,  when  I  say  that  that  brave  and  loving 
woman  was  my  grandmother,  and  the  baby  my  father. 

Doubtless  there  are  hundreds  of  like  instances  of  dauntless  love  among  the 
pioneer  women  of  Ohio,  worthy  to  become  historic.  Must  the  memory  of  their 
courage  and  sacrifices  perish,  because  displayed  only  by  women  and  in  the  forest  ? 
And,  as  men  have  neglected  the  theme,  are  there  not  brilliant  women  among 
their  descendants  to  rescue  from  oblivion  some  of  these  true  tales  of  the  border? 

And  now,  my  friends,  on  this  spot,  hallowed  by  the  struggles  and  achieve 
ments  of  our  forefathers,  let  us  resolve  to  cherish  and  hand  down  the  precious 
memory  of  their  courage  and  fidelity  to  freedom.  May  God  forever  bless  Ohio, 
and  all  her  sisters,  and  the  imperishable  Union  of  the  States.  May  He  grant  that, 
ere  another  centennial  be  celebrated  here,  this  Republic  will  have  led  the  world 
by  its  silent  and  shining  example  to  that  blessed  consummation  when  every 
dynasty  shall  be  dethroned,  when  every  army  shall  be  disbanded,  and  when  every 
people  shall  rule  themselves. 

After  delivering  his  address,  Gen.  Thomas  Ewing  presided 
over  the  Convention  for  the  remainder  of  the  session. 

Gen.  Ewing :     The  next  upon  the  programme  is  a  solo  of 
Auld  Lang  Syne,  by  Miss  Phoebe  Brown. 

AULD    LANG    SYNE. 


SUNG    BY    MISS    PHCEBE   BROWN. 


HOULD  auld  acquaintance  be  forgot, 
And  never  brought  to  mind  ? 

Should  auld  acquaintance  be  forgot, 
And  days  of  Auld  Lang  Syne? 

CHORUS. 

For  Auld  Lang  Syne,  my  dear, 
For  Auld  Lang  Syne ; 

We'll  take  a  cup  o'  kindness  yet, 
For  Auld  Lang  Syne. 


13  C.  R. 


REPORT   OF   THE   COMMISSIONERS   OF    THE 


We  twa  ha'e  run  aboot  the  braes, 
And  pu'd  the  gowan  fine ; 

But  we've  wander'd  many  a  weary  foot 
Sin'  Auld  Lang  Syne. 

CHORUS — 

We  twa  ha'e  sported  i'  the  brun 
Frae  mornin'  sun  till  dine, 

But  seas  between  us  braid  ha'e  roared 
Sin'  Auld  Lang  Syne. 

CHORUS — 

And  here's  a  hand,  my  trusty  frien'. 

And  gie's  a  hand  o'  thine; 
We'll  tak'  a  cup  o'  kindness  yet. 

For  Auld  Lang  Syne. 

CHORUS— 


'Gen.  Ewing :  The  Salem  Quartette,  which  comes  from 
the  town^  of  Salem,  in  this  county,  and  next  to  Marietta  and 
Belpre,9perhaps  the  oldest  settlement  in  the  county — will  now 
give^us~an  old-fashioned  song. 

The  Salem  Quartette  then  sang  the  following  : 

ODE   ON   SCIENCE. 

HE  morning's  sun  shines  from  the  East, 
And  spreads  its  glories  to  the  West; 
All  nations  with  his  beams  are  blest, 
Where'er  the  radiant  light  appears. 
So  Science  spreads  her  lucid  ray 
O'er  lands  which  long  in  darkness  lay ; 
She  visits  fair  Columbia 
And  sets  her  sons  among  the  stars, 
Fair  Freedom,  her  attendant,  waits, 
To  bless  the  portals  at  her  gates, 
To  crown  the  young  and  rising  states 
With  laurels  of  immortal  day. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  193 


CHORUS. 


The  British  yoke,  the  galley  chain, 
Was  urged  upon  our  necks  in  vain  ; 
All  haughty  tyrants  we  disdain, 
And  shout  "  Long  Live  America!" 


Gen.  Ewing  :  By  general  request  the  programme  will  be 
somewhat  varied  just  now  by  a  short  address  from  Mrs.  Liver- 
more,  whom  you  have  already  heard. 

Mrs.  Livermore  then  stepped  to  the  front  of  the  stage, 
amid  great  applause,  and  said  : 


/\ddress  of  JMrs.  jMary  A.  LiVerrrxore. 


MR.  PRESIDENT,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  I  have  already  "  spoke  my 
piece,"  and  you  certainly  do  not  wish  a  repetition  of  it.  I  have  been  thrilled,  as 
have  you  all  this  morning,  to  the  very  center  of  my  being  with  the  address  of 
Hon.  Mr.  Ewing. 

During  the  last  three  months  I  have  given  myself  to  the  study  of  this  pioneer 
history,  and  have  possessed  myself  of  all  the  information  contained  in  the  great 
libraries  of  Hartford  College  and  all  the  surrounding  country ;  but  I  have  read 
between  the  lines,  and  have  understood,  even  when  nothing  has  been  said,  how 
there  were  grand  women  associated  with  these  pioneers  who  came  to  the  Ohio 
Valley.  Men  never  could  have  come  here  across  the  mountains,  fording  rivers, 
if  they  had  not  had  behind  them  the  thought  of  wives  and  children  and  posterity 
pushing  them  on.  [Applause].  That  you  know  as  well  as  I.  And  I  would  like 
very  much  indeed  to  second  the  suggestion  of  the  chairman  that  some  one  of  the 
gifted  daughters  of  Marietta,  or  some  one  of  the  gifted  women  descendants  of  the 
pioneers,  shall  search  out  the  records,  gather  up  the  traditions  of  these  women, 
as  did  Mrs.  E.  F.  Ellet  one-half  century  ago,  when  she  made  her  successful 
search  for  the  histories  of  the  women  of  the  revolution.  Gathered  from  town 
records,  from  the  letters  preserved  in  families,  from  conversations  with  the  grand 
daughters  of  the  revolutionary  women ;  facts  which  she  has  put  into  three 
volumes  of  history  of  the  most  fascinating  and  striking  character. 

So,  dear  ladies,  I  do  not  think  any  one  of  you  need  feel  in  the  least  that 


194  REPORT   OF   THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF   THE 


you  have  not  great  pride  in  your  foremothers  as  well  men  in  their  forefathers. 
Men  never  grow  grand,  never  very  great,  never  become  very  Godlike  unless  they 
are  associated  with  and  stimulated  by  women  of  equal  magnitude  of  character. 
[Applause.] 

During  this  last  half-century  there  has  come  such  a  great  quickening  to 
women,  and  this  is  not  likely  to  end  but  to  continue  ;  and  on  that  I  base  my 
hopes  of  a  grander  record  of  the  next  century  than  anything  that  any  of  us  can 
to-day  foresee. 

Men  are  always  the  best  friends  of  women.  Women  are  always  the  best 
friends  of  men.  We  can  never  become  rivals;  never  become  antagonists.  God 
has  simply  made  us  two  halves  of  one  whole.  [Applause.]  One  the  complement 
and  the  supplement  of  the  other.  [Applause.]  It  is  never  possible  for  men  to 
grow  grand  and  great  that  they  do  not  uplift  women.  It  is  never  possible  for 
women,  in  some  accidental  circumstances  of  the  time,  to  outrun  men  and  become 
grand  and  great,  that  they  do  not  take  men  up  with  them.  It  is  the  Divine  law 
of  success.  What  God  meant  and  what  God  ordained  when  he  made  us  men  and 
women.  And  so  in  the  future  women  are  to  carry  mighty  mental  and  moral 
stimulus  to  the  preservation  of  our  institutions,  to  the  enjoying  of  them  and  to 
the  great  quickening  of  them. 

Before  I  sit  down,  allow  me  to  tell  you  how  much  I  have  enjoyed  these 
three  days — four  days  of  the  celebration.  I  did  not  want  to  come.  It  was  a 
warm  season  of  the  year  for  travel.  It  is  a  long  journey  from  Boston.  I  should 
not  have  come  but  for  the  importunity  of  women  of  Marietta  whom  I  have 
learned  to  know,  and  whom  I  shall  love  and  call  friends  forever.  I  am  so  thank 
ful  to  them  for  their  importunity.  I  have  enjoyed  the  occasion  exceedingly.  I 
would  not  have  missed  it  for  anything;  and  I  shall  go  back,  able  to  say  to  my 
husband,  definitely,  what  he  has  sometimes  hinted  at,  as  we  have  read  the  gibes 
of  the  newspapers,  that  Ohio  men  had  to  take  all  the  offices;  that  if  there  was 
any  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people  that  was  waiting  to  be  filled,  that  there  was 
an  Ohio  man  to  fill  it.  [Laughter  and  applause].  My  husband  has  said,  it  is 
not  an  accidental  affair  or  a  political  arrangement  that  there  is  always  an  Ohio 
man  for  the  Supreme  Court,  for  the  leadership  of  the  grand  armies  of  the  re 
public,  for  a  candidate  for  the  presidency,  for  an  occupation  of  the  presidential 
chair.  There  is  some  real  reason  behind  it,  and  I  choose  to  take  pride  in  my 
sex  and  to  offer  to  you  this  sweetness  of  belief,  that  behind  the  greatness  of  Ohio 
men  stands  enthroned,  en  riguer  the  greatness  of  Ohio  women.  [Applause]. 

Gen.  Ewing :  A  call  from  the  audience  interrupted  me. 
I  was  about  to  ask  Mr.  Sherman  to  address  a  few  words  to  the 
audience.  [Applause.]  • 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  195 


Address  of  Jlorv  JoKrv  SKernr\ar\ 


OF  OHIO. 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  You  have  called  me  before  my  time ;  I  understood 
I  was  to  speak  to-morrow ;  I  was  expected  to  say  something  about  Ohio ;  but 
that  to-day  was  dedicated  to  the  pioneers,  and  especially  the  pioneers  of  the  Ma 
rietta  settlement. 

I  do  not  have  the  good  fortune  to  have  been  descended  from  any  of  the  forty- 
eight  pioneers  of  Marietta.  My  ancestors  became  the  pioneers  in  the  Western 
Reserve,  from  Connecticut.  They  were  Yankees,  but  they  were  Connecticut 
Yankees  and  not  Massachusetts  Yankees.  But  I  do  feel  like,  for  a  moment,  stand 
ing  in  the  way  of  the  pioneers  to  celebrate,  not  the  Centennial  celebration,  but  a 
semi-Centennial  celebration. 

I  remember  the  time  fifty  years  ago — ladies,  don't  imagine  I  am  as  old  as 
Methuselah — I  remember  the  time  fifty  years  ago,  when  I  trudged,  foot-sore  and 
weary,  many  a  day,  along  the  banks  of  your  beautiful  river.  I  held  an  office 
then — it  was  the  office  of  junior  rodman,  if  you  know  what  that  is.  If  you  don't, 
you  ought  to  find  out.  My  business  was  to  carry  a  rod,  pull  the  tripod  up  and 
down  and  make  a  note  of  the  contents  and  report  it  to  the  chief.  I  served  here 
under  John  Burwell,  whom  many  of  you  may  remember,  who  afterwards  became 
a  Methodist  preacher  and  who  still  lives,  and  I  hope  may  live  long. 

When  I  was  here  I  became  acquainted  as  a  boy  of  fifteen,  with  the  old  men 
of  Marietta.  I  saw  then  Mr.  Wallace,  and  Mr.  Young,  and  Mr.  Nye,  and  many 
other  of  the  distinguished  citizens  of  Marietta,  and  they  were  so  big  in  my  eyes 
that  I  never  dreamed  of  the  time  when  I  would  ever  stand  on  an  equal  footing 
with  them.  I  see  some  of  them  yet,  and  whenever  I  come  to  Marietta,  I  try  to 
pick  out  either  these  old  men  or  the  sons  of  these  old  men.  There  is  here,  within 
my  arm's  reach,  one  of  these  gentlemen  whom  I  knew  then,  and  I  think  he  was 
an  old  man  then  ;  but  here  he  is,  ninety  odd  years  ;  born  in  the  last  century,  a 
son  of  Paul  Fearing,  one  of  the  forty-eight,  a  hale  and  hearty  old  man.  And  so, 
too,  I  see  others,  mostly  the  children  of  these  old  settlers. 

So,  my  fellow-citizens,  whenever  you  want  to  celebrate  a  semi-Centennial, 
just  call  on  me  and  I  will  come  down  here  and  help  you  celebrate  it.  [Ap 
plause.] 

After  serving  here  awhile  in  my  honorable  office,  I  was  sent  up  to  Ludlow, 
where  I  served  a  time,  and  then  I  went  up  to  Beverly,  and  there  I  served  under 
a  man  by  the  name  of  Scott.  But  Scott,  according  to  the  customs  of  the  time, 
drank  too  much  whisky  and  got  into  trouble,  and  was  finally  discharged,  and  I 


196  REPORT   OF   THE    COMMISSIONERS   OF   THE 

was  left  there  in  charge  of  that  work.  So  I  stayed  there  for  a  year  or  so,  until 
finally  I  was  dismissed  from  my  office  because  I  was  a  Whig.  So  that  these  party 
divisions  extended  a  long  time  past. 

Now,  here  I  will  stop.  I  wish  to  hear  from  the  pioneers  of  Marietta.  The 
men  that  can  tell  from  their  own  lips  or  from  their  immediate  ancestors,  the  story 
of  this  settlement  of  the  Northwest,  and  I  intend  to  take  my  seat  until  to-mor 
row,  when  I  will  try  and  say  something  about  Ohio.  [Applause.] 

Gen.  Ewing :  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  as  Mr.  Sherman  has 
said,  there  is  a  son  of  one  of  the  immortal  forty-eight  pioneers 
upon  the  platform  here.  I  hope  he  will  rise  and  say  a  few 
words  to  the  audience.  Mr.  Paul  Fearing. 

Mr.  Paul  Fearing :  I  never  speak  in  public.  [Laughter 
and  applause.] 

Gen.  Ewing :     Well,  get  up  and  tell  them  so.    [Laughing.] 


Address   of  Mr.  J^avjl   Fearing, 


OF  MARIETTA. 


I  never  speak  in  public.  I  have  been  a  temperance  man  all  my  life — fifty 
years.  I  never  drank  any  thing  stronger  than  water  for  years.  I  live  quietly  in 
my  own  home,  and  am  not  used  to  talking  to  big  crowds  like  this.  I  look  upon 
this  crowd  with  pleasure,  and  am  glad  to  meet  my  many  old  friends.  [Applause.] 
I  thank  you. 

Gen.  Ewing:  The  programme  has  been  somewhat  inter 
rupted,  and  we  will  now  resume  it  again  by  hearing  the  recita 
tion  of  the  Ode  by  the  Rev.  William  J.  Lee,  and  delivered  by 
himself. 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION. 


Centennial  ®bc. 


NORTHWEST  TERRITORY,  JULY  15-19,  1888. 


BY   REV.  WILLIAM   J.    LEE,    D.  D. 


,UR  God,  whose  wise  and  tireless  hand 
Guided  the  fathers  to  this  land — 
Led  them  across  the  wintry  sea 
To  plant  this  Tree  of  Liberty ; 
To  Thee  we  raise, 
Our  loftiest  praise 
For  history  past,  and  years  to  be. 


II. 

God  of  all  Nations  !     Thee  we  hail ! 
Thy  wondrous  promise  cannot  fail. 
From  seed  long  hidden  in  the  ground 
The  century's  sun  makes  fruits  abound 

For  law  and  right, 

And  Thy  great  might 
Thanksgivings  from  our  lips  resound. 

ill. 

Straight  to  the  mark  from  bow  full-bent, 
Flying  across  the  continent 
From  utmost  tension  of  the  thong 
We  send,  to-day,  our  grateful  song. 

For  Thy  bequest— 

This  free  Northwest, 
Let  all,  their  heart-felt  thanks  prolong! 


198  REPORT   OF   THE   COMMISSIONERS   OF   THE     • 


IV. 


Loud  let  the  century's  bells  be  rung ! 
Smite  the  free  air  with  brazen  tongue ! 
Toss  the  proud  flags  from  mast-heads  high ; 
Let  honor's  shafts  pierce  through  the  sky. 

The  men  who  came 

Deserve  the  fame. 
For  loyal  Truth  should   never  die. 


v. 


Like  ore  brought  up  from  darkest   night 
Deep  'neath  the  mountain's  roots  to  light, 
And  fused  in  Truth's  white  furnace  heat, 
Quick  plunged  in  tears — on  anvils  beat — 

In  crucial  time 

Their  lives  sublime 
Turned  flawless  steel  through  cold  and  heat. 


VI. 


Praise  waits  upon  that  loyal  band 
Of  women — Saviours  of  the  land! 
They  melted  down  the  ice  of  death, 
And  thawed  despair  in  love's  warm  breath. 

Let  history  tell 

The  story  well 
How  these  frail  women  conquered  death  ! 


VII. 

For,  Christlike  deeds,  unselfish,  fair — 
Deeds  only  daring  souls  dare  dare  ; 
Such  deeds  of  Love  and  Patience  know, 
The  lives  of  our  foremothers  show. 

A  Nation  stands 

Hope  of  all  Lands, 
They  rocked  a  hundred  years  ago ! 


I 
NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  199 


VIII. 

Sing  loud  their  deeds,  who,  oft  cast  down, 
From  flowerless  stalks  wove  fadeless  crown. 
The  Years'  lips  never  shall  grow  dumb. 
New  hands,  in  centuries  to  come 

Will  own  their  claims, 

Send  on  their  names, 
Nor  ever  let  Fame's  Keys  be  dumb! 


XI. 

They  saw  but  dimly  in  their  time 
What  to  our  eyes  seems  so  sublime. 
Yet,  with  a  will  renowned  and  great, 
Tkey  held  the  iron  helm  of  Fate ! 

Heroes,  alone, 

Stone  after  stone 
They  reared  this  Temple  of  the  State. 


Far  better,  often,  than  our  plans 
The  work  that  falls  from  honest  hands. 
The  shuttles  of  the  Unseen  Powers 
Weaves  patterns  different  from  ours. 

This  Empire  cast 

In  mold  so  vast 
Is  ampler  than  their  wisest  plans. 


XI. 


Old  Chronicles  their  rootlets  thrust 

Down  through  the  Years  where  sleeps  their  dust. 

This  Tree  of  Liberty  waves  high 

Against  the  Northwest  glittering  sky. 

Its  leaves  of  green 

And  golden  sheen 
Tell  where  the  seeds  of  glory  lie. 


2OO  REPORT   OF   THE    COMMISSIONERS   OF   THE 


XII. 

Knights  of  all  time  are  they  who  do 
Because  demands  are  right  and  true. 
And  by  no  kingly  accolade 
Is  manhood's  worthy  Knighthood  made. 

These  pioneers 

Through  toils  and  tears 
Won  Honor's  stars  that  never  fade. 


XIII. 

They  sleep  where  foes  no  more  molest. 
Well  have  they  earned  their  honored  rest. 
No  Indian's  wild  war-whoop  alarms 
Their  quiet  Field  of  Grounded  Arms. 

The  sacred  sod 

The  Truce  of  God 
Guards  well — nor  any  foeman  harms ! 


xiv. 

Above  their  graves  the  blossoms  rise 
That  sow  their  seed  beneath  all  skies. 
No  more  War's  tempest,  'mid  our  calm, 
Swings  Northern  Pine  'gainst  Southern  Palm ! 

For  Law  and  Peace, 

And  Love's  increase 
We  raise,  to-day,  our  happy  Psalm. 


xv. 

The  Years  are  rivers  gliding  free 
Out  to  the  boundless,  soundless  Sea. 
The  constant  waters  ever  sweep 
On  to  Eternity's  fast  deep; 

And  Centuries  go 

With  ceaseless  flow 
Into  the  Future's  donjon-keep. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  2OI 


XVI. 

New  Centuries  bring  duties  new, 
We  must,  like  them,  be  firm  and  true. 
Right's  camp-fires  gleam  on  every  hill, 
And  Truth  demands  brave  warriors  still. 

The  Wintry  sea 

Will  ever  be 
For  Admirals  of  dauntless  will ! 


XVII. 

The  Years  of  Peace  are  slow  to  burn 
And  plow-shares  into  sword-blades  turn. 
But  in  our  veins  runs  blood  of  theirs; 
Each  heart,  the  wealth  they  purchase,  shares. 

From  age  to  age 

This  Heritage 
Of  Truth  and  Right,  the  Present  bears. 


XVIII. 

God  of  our  fathers,  make  us  wise, 

Above  all  wrongs  and  fears  to  rise, 

And  if,  in  cycles  yet  to  be, 

Storms  madly  sweep  our  human  sea, 
Raise  Thy  strong  hand, 
Winds,  waves  command, 

Bring  lasting  Peace  and  Liberty. 


Gen.  Ewing:  Next  upon  the  programme  is  a  patriotic 
song,  Star  Spangled  Banner. 

After  the  rendition  of  the  Star  Spangled  Banner  by  the 
band,  Mr.  Charles  Goddard  was  introduced. 


2O2  REPORT   OF    THE   COMMISSIONERS   OF   THE 

Gen.  Ewing :  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  Col.  Charles  God- 
dard,  of  Zanesville,  Ohio,  a  soldier  of  the  last  war,  is  here.  He 
is  the  grandson  of  Converse,  who,  I  believe,  was  the  youngest 
of  the  early  settlers  here.  He  was  captured  here  at  two  years 
of  age,  in  1788.  Col.  Goddard's  father  was  the  celebrated 
Charles  B.  Goddard,  of  Zanesville,  Ohio,  one  of  the  most  bril 
liant  lawyers  of  the  State,  and  a  son  of  Mrs.  General  Goddard, 
one  of  the  loveliest  women  of  Ohio.  I  hope  he  will  give  us  the 
pleasure  of  a  little  talk. 


Address  of  Gol.  GKarles  Qoddard, 

OF  ZANESVILLE,  OHIO. 


MR.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  If  a  fellow  tells  you  he  is  em 
barrassed,  you  won't  believe  him.  I  am  really  surprised  at  the  honor  that  has 
been  conferred  upon  me  in  asking  me  to  say  something  to  you  to-day.  My  only 
individual  title  to  this  distinction  is  the  fact,  that  like  St.  Patrick,  as  Gen.  Ewing 
has  said,  "  I  come  of  dacent  people." 

I  had  an  invitation  some  days  ago,  perhaps  two  weeks  ago,  from  one  of  your 
committee  ladies,  asking  me  to  say  something  o'n  this  day,  and  urging  me,  furth 
ermore,  to  be  sure  and  say  something  funny.  [Laughter.]  Well  now,  if  anything 
would  knock  the  fun  out  of  a  man,  it  would  be  to  be  told  to  get  up  and  know  that 
he  is  expected  to  make  himself  humorous.  I  answered  that  letter,  though,  in  the 
most  solemn  manner,  and  I  thought  I  had  made  it  so  impressive  that  I  should 
not  be  called  upon  to-day.  I  said  to  that  kind  lady  who  wrote  me  that  note — 
and  her  note  was  much  sweeter  than  my  speech  can  be — I  said,  "  My  dear  Miss 
Nye :  You  know  I  have  been  a  married  man  for  ten  years,  and  there  is  no  joke 
about  that."  [Laughter.] 

Now,  the  only  possible  service  that  I  can  perform  here,  is  to  tell  you  that 
Gen.  Ewimg  is  a  little  in  error  with  regard  to  my  grandfather.  If  I  caught  his 
words  right,  he  said  that  my  grandfather  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Indians  at 
two  years  of  age — 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  2OJ 


Gen.  Ewing :     That  is  as  I  supposed  it  was.     That  is  my 
recollection.     [Laughter.] 

Col.  Goddard :  He  was  a  prisoner  in  arms  at  that  time.  His  great  grand 
son,  who  bears  his  name,  whose  Christian  name  is  Converse,  has  just  been  the  re 
cipient  of  a  present  from  the  ladies  of  this  Centennial  Anniversary  Association. 

But  my  grandfather — if  you  will  pardon  me  for  speaking  of  him — came  here 
as  late  as  November,  1788,  when  a  boy.  His  father  had  come  the  1 5th  of  August 
previous,  and  the  father  of  the  woman  who  was  afterwards  his  wife  was  here  on 
the  7th  of  April.  Capt.  Josiah  Monroe,  my  maternal  great  grandfather,  was  of 
the  7th  of  April  party  that  landed  at  Marietta  on  that  day.  Benjamin  Converse, 
my  mother's  grandfather — her  paternal  grandfather — arrived  here  on  the  1 5th 
day  of  August,  1788.  My  grandfather  himself,  a  boy  then  of  perhaps  a  dozen 
years — I  think  just  twelve  years  old — came  alone,  or  with  some  neighbors  who 
were  coming  in  November.  His  father  went  up  to  Waterford,  and  there  this  boy 
grew  until,  when  he  was  about  sixteen  years  of  age,  a  party  of  men  from  the 
fort  was  sent  out  into  the  woods  to  get  a  tree.  This  boy,  with  three  men,  whose 
mames  I  should  be  glad  to  recall,  but  which  at  this  moment  have  escaped  my 
memory,  were  attacked  and  fired  upon  by  hostile  Indians,  and  the  leader  of  this 
band,  detailed  for  the  purpose  of  getting  the  tree,  lost  his  head,  as  the  saying  is, 
and  became  alarmed.  He  threw  up  his  hands  and  said,  "  Oh,  what  shall  we  do, 
what  shall  we  do."  My  grandfather,  a  boy  sixteen  years  of  age,  the  youngest  of 
the  party,  grabbed  his  rifle,  which  was  standing  against  a  tree.  "  Do !  Why, 
draw  and  fire,  of  course. "  And  he  drew  and  fired,  and  killed  three  or  four  In 
dians.  Two  of  these  men  were  killed  there,  the  other  escaped  back  to  the  garri 
son,  my  grandfather  was  taken  prisoner,  and  for  two  years  remained  prisoner 
among  the  Indians. 

Now,  whether  this  is  as  interesting  to  you,  the  descendants  of  other  pioneer 
people,  as  it  is  to  me,  his  descendant,  I  don't  know.  I  don't  v.-ant  to  worry  you 
with  along  speech.  I  hope  to  give  a  part  of  my  five  minutes  to  Dr.  Nye  here, 
who  wants  at  least  that  much. 

This  boy  was  carried  by  the  Indians  on  all  their  travels  for,  I  think,  about 
two  years.  He  was  compelled  to  run  the  gauntlet — he  was  adopted,  finally,  by 
the  chief  whose  tomahawk  the  boy  expected  to  crush  his  skull.  After  a  long 
march  from  Waterford  towards  Sandusky,  a  very  long  march,  the  boy,  worn  out 
and  tired,  was  given  a  great  package  or  bundle  by  the  chief,  who  was  known  by 
the  name  of  Blackface,  because  he  painted  his  face  black  when  he  went  to  war. 
He  told  that  boy  to  carry  that  package,  saying  to  him  in  such  English  as  the 
chieftain  could  use,  "Me  sick,  me  sick."  My  grandfather  was  worn  out,  his 
back  was  lacerated  with  the  scourges  that  he  had  received  from  the  withes  in  the 
hands  of  the  Indians.  His  legs  were  weary,  his  moccasins  were  worn  out,  and 
in  desperation  he  turned  on  this  blackfaced  Indian,  threw  his  package  to  the 


204  REPORT    OF  THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF   THE 


ground,  and  exclaimed,  "  Me  sick  too  !  "  The  boy  expected  the  tomahawk  to 
crush  his  brain  at  that  moment,  but  instead  of  that  the  Indian  stuck  his  toma 
hawk  in  his  belt,  patted  the  boy  on  his  head,  and  adopted  him  as  his  own  son. 

Of  the  squaw  of  that  chieftain,  I  have  often  heard  my  grandfather  speak  in 
terms  of  the  dearest  affection,  as  "  my  squaw  mother."  And  it  was  with  great 
grief  that  he  felt  himself  bound,  in  order  to  get  back  to  his  family,  to  make  his 
escape  from  this  band  of  Indians  when  they  were  in  the  neighborhood  of  Detroit, 
then  a  British  post,  now  a  big  town  in  the  State  of  Michigan,  and  a  part  of  this 
great  Northwest  Territory,  whose  organization  we  celebrate  this  day.  In  the 
neighborhood  of  Detroit  this  young  fellow  escaped  from  his  guards,  the  men  of 
the  band  having  mostly  gone  off  hunting,  and  his  squaw  mother  having  such  con 
fidence  in  the  boy  that  she  did  not  think  he  would  run  away.  He  made  his 
escape  to  Detroit,  where,  by  the  aid  of  the  officers  of  the  British  army,  then 
stationed  there,  he  was  assisted  across  Canada,  and  across  the  St.  Lawrence  River 
to  Vermont,  where  he  found  relatives,  and  from  there  he  made  his  way  back,  on 
foot,  to  Pittsburgh,  and  from  Pittsburgh,  in  boat,  to  Marietta  again,  and  then  up 
the  Muskingum  to  Waterford,  where  he  was  welcomed  like  a  lost  child. 

Now,  gentlemen,  so  much  for  that.  I  thank  you  very  much  for  this  compli 
ment,  but  I  do  not  want  to  tire  you.  I  am  sorry  I  could  not  be  funny,  but  if  I 
had  been  as  funny  as  I  could,  I  am  afraid  you  would  all  have  suffered  with  apo 
plexy.  Good  bye.  [Applause.] 


Gen.  Ewing :  Professor  Eli  Tappan,  the  State  School 
Commissioner,  is  here.  He  was  formerly  President  of  Kenyon 
College,  and  is  the  son  of  the  Hon.  Benjamin  Tappan,  who,  for 
a  number  of  years,  represented  the  State  of  Ohio  in  the  United 
States  Senate.  He  is  expected  to  give  us  a  brief  address. 


Address  of  J~Ior\.  Eli  Japparv. 


We  are  very  proud  of  our  father;  we  are  glad  to  think  that  we  are  descended 
from  such  a  race  of  men,  and  also  we  thank  God  for  our  mother.  We  praise 
Him  whenever  we  think  of  them. 

My  father  came  into  this  State,  or  what  is  now  this  State,  at  the  close  of  the 
|ast  century,  in  1799,  and  settled  upon  the  Western  Reserve,  where  is  now  the 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       2O5 


town  of  Ravenna;  and  some  years  before  that,  in  1788,  Thomas  Lord  came  to 
this  town  of  Marietta  and  settled  here  in  the  month  of  April,  a  few  days  after 
the  first  settlement  here.  I  have  learned  from  Mr.  Woodbridge  that  his  name 
is  mentioned  in  some  of  the  records  of  that  spring.  He  lived  here  for  some 
years,  afterwards  removed  to  Columbus  and  died  there.  I  have  not  met  with  any 
of  his  descendants.  If  any  of  them  are  here  I  would  like  to  meet  with  them. 
One  object  we  have  in  coming  here  to  this  great  convention  is  to  see  some  of  the 
descendants  of  the  same  stock  as  ourselves.  I  have  heard  that  some  of  them 
lived  in  Knox  county.  I  only  heard  of  this  a  few  days  ago.  I  have  lived  nearly 
twenty  years  in  that  county  and  did  not  know  it.  His  brother,  Banner  Lord, 
rode  West  in  the  fall  of  1794,  rode  first  to  the  town  of  Clarksburg,  Virginia, 
and  remained  there  that  winter.  In  the  spring,  in  the  month  of  April,  1795,  he 
moved  down  the  river.  I  remember,  as  doubtless  my  brother  does,  my  mother's 
account  of  that  voyage  down  the  river.  They  came  down  in  a  flat-boat  which 
was  covered  over  in  part,  as  we  have  seen  many  such  boats  still  moving  down  the 
Ohio  river,  but  I  think  more  fifty  years  ago  than  there  are  to-day.  There  were  four 
sisters  and  one  baby  brother,  Banner  Lord.  After  him,  I  believe,  every  one  of  those 
sisters  afterwards  named  a  son.  There  were  other  sisters  born  afterwards  here 
in  the  Ohio  Valley.  My  grandfather  moved  down  the  river  in  April,  1795,  to  the 
town  of  Vienna,  and  it  was  then  named  a  town.  I  believe  there  is  no  town  there 
yet.  Like  many  Western  cities,  it  was  a  name  and  nothing  but  a  name.  Some 
who  are  here  present  may  know  the  place  by  the  name  of  Vienna.  The  Spencers 
afterwards  lived  there.  Dr.  Spencer  and  my  grandfather,  Banner  Lord,  married 
sisters.  Of  those  four  sisters  that  came  West  at  that  time,  there  are  the  descend 
ants  of  two  of  them,  the  only  remaining  children,  I  believe.  Three  of  those 
sons  are  here  to-day. 

We  learned  something  from  our  ancestors.  We  talk  about  their  institutions, 
their  government,  their  schools.  Truly  there  is  not  much  remaining  evidence. 
What  they  had  of  government  is  gone ;  what  they  had  of  schools  was  nothing  at 
all.  I  know  that  my  mother's  regret  her  life-long  was  the  absence  of  good  schools 
in  her  childhood;  and  over  and  again  her  injunction  upon  her  children,  that  they 
should  profit  by  the  advantages  which  they  had  of  good  schools.  We  have 
gained  much  in  our  schools  upon  that  day,  and  all  that  I  can  say  about  that  is  to 
give  another  piece  of  advice  which  I  received  from  that  other  ancestor  who  came 
into  the  Western  Reserve.  "Our  duty  is  that  we  should  do  better  than  our  fore 
fathers."  As  my  father  said  to  me:  "You  must  do  more  than  I  have  done,  for 
otherwise  the  world  cannot  go  forward." 

We  have  but  a  word  here  to  say,  and  with  this  I  give  you  the  best  that  I 
can. 

"It  is  our  duty  while  we  remember  and  reverence  those  who  lived  before  us, 
that  we  should  also  strive  to  obey  their  injunction  and  go  further  forward.  It  is 
the  will  of  God  that  we  should  do  better  than  they  have  done,  for  otherwise  the 
world  cannot  gp  forward."  [Applause]. 


2O6  REPORT   OF    THE   COMMISSIONERS   OF    THE 

Gen.  Ewing  :  I  am  requested  by  a  member  of  the  audi 
ence  to  ask  Lieutenant-Governor  Lee,  who  is  sitting  in  the 
aisle  before  me,  to  make  a  few  remarks. 

Hon.  John  C.  Lee,  of  Toledo,  Ohio,  then  came  forward  to 
the  platform,  and  spoke  as  follows : 


Address  of  HOA.  JoHr\  G.  Lee, 

LIEUTENANT-GOVKRNOR    OF   OHIO. 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  I  have  enjoyed  this  day's  proceedings  so  far,  as 
it  seldom  falls  to  the  lot  of  man  to  enjoy.  I  do  not  think  there  has  ever  been 
crowded  into  the  same  number  of  moments,  a  higher,  intenser,  and  more  thor 
oughly  pleasurable  enjoyment  than  I  have  had  from  the  moment  these  exercises 
have  been  begun  until  this  moment ;  and  I  can  scarcely  forgive  the  cruelty  to 
animals  that  has  called  me  from  my  quiet  seat  in  the  audience  to  this  platform. 
[Laughter.] 

I  have  been  running  back  and  supplementing  the  incidents  that  have  been 
here  given  to-day,  and  one  of  the  most  pleasurable,  sir,  [turning  to  Gen.  Ewing] 
is  connected  with  the  face  and  character  of  your  distinguished  father,  and  the 
most  distinguished  citizen  of  Ohio.  [Applause.]  I  learned  my  lessons  of  politi 
cal  wisdom  at  his  feet ;  I  learned  them  at  the  feet  of  other  distinguished  citizens 
of  Ohio,  but  the  crowning  act  of  his  great  character  and  oratory  was  exhibited 
in  my  presence  on  the  eastern  terrace  of  the  State-house  at  Columbus,  in  1861, 
when  rebellion  was  rampant,  and  the  question  was  whether  the  military  power 
of  the  government  should  be  applied  to  its  repression.  He  was  called  to  preside 
at  a  meeting  of  the  Union  people  of  Ohio,  to  put  in  nomination  candidates,  irre 
spective  of  party,  for  State  offices.  Upon  accepting  the  chair  of  that  convention, 
he  spoke  in  his  old  age,  not  old  for  him,  but  for  most  men,  for  I  believe  he  was 
then  72 — he  spoke  of  that  rebellion  thus  :  "  It  is  cruel ;  it  is  treason  ;  but  I  be 
lieve  in  the  saving  power  of  the  people  of  this  Nation  and  their  love  of  the 
Union.  And  I  believe  if  that  sentiment  could  have  expression  throughout  the 
land,  there  is  not  a  single  State,  save  one,  but  that  would  return  to  its  allegiance. 
(Applause.]  That  single  State,"  he  said,  "  is  South  Carolina ;  and  as  to  it,  I  be- 
lieve  nothing  but  the  strong  arm  of  military  power  will  bring  it  into  subjection." 
And  then  straightening  up  his  aged  form,  as  straight  as  an  arrow  could  move,  he 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       2O7 


said,  with  a  tremendous  accumulation  of  vocal  power,  "and  I  would  outstretch 
that  arm"  (and  out  with  it  went  the  mighty  arm  of  that  great  man);  and  it  made 
the  representatives  of  the  people  of  Ohio  absolutely  tremble  in  the  presence  of 
that  grand  orator.  [Applause.]  I  remember  that,  and  I  always  want  to  remem 
ber  the  occasion  ;  and  whenever  I  see  his  sons  or  his  daughters,  I  am  reminded 
of  that  striking  scene  in  his  great  history. 

I  have  a  very  pleasant  recollection  of  an  amusing  incident  connected  with 
the  name  of  the  distinguished  gentleman  who  has  just  taken  his  seat  (Mr.  Tap- 
pan).  It  is  among  the  traditions  of  the  bar.  Senator  Tappan  was  examining  an 
obstreperous  witness,  and  the  witness  thought,  as  is  common,  that  the  lawyer  was 
rather  impertinent ;  and  he  thought  there  was  implied  in  certain  questions  an 
intimation  of  a  want  of  integrity  in  the  witness.  And  the  witness,  turning  upon 
Mr.  Tappan,  said  :  "  Mr.  Tappan,  I  have  known  you  for  twenty-five  years;  you 
were  a  rascal  then  and  you  are  a  rascal  now."  [Laughter.]  '•  Yes,"  said  Mr, 
Tappan,  "  I  have  known  you  for  thirty  years ;  you  were  a  damned  fool  then,  and 
you  have  been  failing  ever  since."  [Great  laughter.] 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  it  may  possibly  be  my  pleasure  to  say  something  to 
you  to-morrow,  and  that  being  the  case,  I  will  take  my  leave  of  you  at  this  time, 
but  only  after  I  shall  have  uttered  one  word  of  praise  in  behalf  of  the  splendid 
management  of  this  Centennial  Celebration.  [Applause.]  I  cannot  go  over  it 
all,  but  must  not  leave  this  platform  without  giving  utterance  to  this  sentiment 
which  I  know  finds  an  echo  in  your  hearts  as  well.  The  grand  pageant  that  was 
put  upon  this  stand  last  night,  followed  by  the  beautiful  tableaux,  and  then  the 
closing  Blenerhasset  scene,  is  one,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  would  do  credit  to  the 
best  taste  in  America.  It  would  do  credit  to  the  best  conception  of  the  highest 
and  loftiest  exhibitions  of  social  dignity,  grace,  elegance,  and  culture  in  the  whole 
Northwestern  country.  [Applause.] 


Gen.  Ewing  :  Dr.  John  Cotton,  of  Charleston,  an  old  Ma- 
riettian,  known  and  esteemed  by  us  all,  and  the  son  of  a  gen 
tleman  to  whom  this  great  institution  owes  very  largely  its 
success,  is  on  the  platform  and  is  expected  to  make  a  brief 
address. 

14  C.R. 


2O8  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

/\ddress  of  Dr.  J.  J.  Gottor\ 

OF  CHARLESTON,  W.  VA. 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  When  first  I  received  the  very  polite  invitation 
from  the  Secretary  of  the  Pioneer  Society  to  be  present  on  this  occasion  and  say 
a  few  words,  I  took  down  my  Webster's  Dictionary  to  see  what  possible  relation 
or  connection  I  had  with  this  pioneer  business  ;  and,  sir,  I  found  that  the  primary, 
the  original  signification  of  "  pioneer"  was  a  foot-soldier  whose  special  business 
was  to  march  in  advance  of  the  army  and  to  remove  obstructions  from  its  path. 
Now,  I  never  was  a  soldier  in  all  my  life,  for  a  very  good  reason.  The  same  reason 
assigned  by  a  certain  Lord  in  Shakspeare's  Henry  IV,  who  said  "  And  but  for 
these  vile  guns  he  would  himself  have  been  a  soldier."  [Laughter.] 

But,  sir,  the  secondary  meaning  of  "  pioneer"  is  one  who  goes  in  advance  and 
prepares  the  way  and  removes  obstructions  from  others.  Now,  sir,  in  this  sense  I 
was  a  pioneer.  I  was  a  pioneer,  not  of  this  town  of  Marietta,  but  of  one  of  her 
most  prized  institutions — the  College  of  Marietta.  The  class  of  1838,  to  which 
it  was  my  high  privilege  to  belong,  was  the  first  class  to  pass  through  this  College  ; 
but  the  obstructions  we  had  to  remove — why,  there  was  no  end  to  them.  Take 
the  very  first  thing :  The  college  bell  summoned  us  to  chapel  prayers  at  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  Voi^  have  no  idea  how  much  trouble  we  had  with  this 
bell.  I  remember  the  first  night  I  slept  in  the  college  building.  I  retired  very 
early,  because  I  was  not  accustomed  to  early  rising,  and  soon  fell  into  a  sound 
slumber ;  but  my  slumbers  were  broken  by  the  ringing  of  that  bell.  Well,  my 
room-mate,  Samuel  Hall, 'who  had  more  experience  in  college  bells  than  I  had, 
told  me  he  never  got  up  until  the  bell  rang  the  second  time,  and  then  went  off 
until  it  commenced  tolling ;  but  I  having  a  pair  of  new  boots,  knew  I  would 
have  to  get  up  half  an  hour  earlier  to  get  them  on.  So  I,  having  wrestled  with 
my  boots,  went  to  the  chapel  door  where  there  were  five  or  six  other  greenhorns, 
all  waiting  for  the  second  bell  to  ring,  and  there  we  waited  and  waited  until  some 
good  Samaritan  came  along  and  told  us  that  it  was  only  half-past  eleven  P.  M., 
and  that  the  bell  had  made  a  mistake  of  six  hours  only  in  our  favor.  Just  think 
of  it,  the  pleasing  face  of  that  man  in  telling  us  he  had  made  a  mistake  of  six 
hours  in  our  favor. 

That  was  my  first  experience  in  college.  Time  would  fail  me,  time  would 
utterly  fail  me,  nor  is  this  the  place  to.  go  into  the  history  of  the  various  obstruc 
tions  we  met  and  surmounted.  But  there  was  one  incident  in  my  senior  year 
that  I  never  shall  forget,  because  it  was  a  scene  of  great  gratification  and  satisfac 
tion  to  me  ;  and  that  was  the  saving  of  a  human  life,  a  life  that  became  exceed 
ingly  valuable,  one  who  became  a  minister  of  the  gospel  for  thirty  years,  and 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  2OQ 


preached  the  gospel  successfully.  It  was  in  the  Ohio  River  that  this  accident  oc 
curred.  We  were  all  in  bathing.  I  heard  the  cry  of  "a  man  is  drowning!"  I 
swam  to  the  shore  and  ran  up,  and  there  was  this  man,  this  athletic  young  man, 
a  member  of  the  junior  class,  struggling  violently,  frantically,  making  such  an 
upheaval  of  waters  as  I  never  witnessed  before,  drowning.  Well,  I  swam  out  to 
him  ;  but  I  had  been  told  often  enough  never  to  let  a  drowning  man  get  you 
within  his  grasp.  So  I  swam  around  him  and  waited  until  he  ceased  these  frantic 
struggles,  and  as  he  was  sinking,  grasped  him  and  dragged  him  to  the  shore.  He 
was  perfectly  unconscious,  but  was  restored  to  life.  And  I  have  always  remem 
bered  this  with  great  satisfaction,  this  saving  of  a  human  life.  Now,  do  you 
talk  about  the  high  satisfaction  a  doctor  has,  and  his  great  joy  in  the  saving  of  a 
human  life.  Do  you  call  it  a  doctor's  business  of  every-day  life  ?  I  confess,  in 
the  forty  years'  practice  that  I  have  had,  I  have  known  some  of  my  patients  who 
survived  doses  of  my  medicine,  and  even  recovered,  but  whether  that  was  from 
the  effect  of  the  medicine,  or  simply  in  spite  of  the  medicine,  I  never  was  quite 
sure.  Whether  it  was  a  case  of  Procter  hoc  or  post  hoc>  I  never  was  quite  sure.  But 
this  man  I  knew  I  saved.  I  saved  him  from  the  very  jaws  of  death.  And  even 
in  my  day  dreams,  when  fancying  myself  at  the  very  gates  of  Paradise,  and  St. 
Peter  came  to  the  door  and  asked  me,  "  What  have  you  done  towards  preaching 
the  gospel  to  the  Heathen  ?  "  I  could  say  to  him,  "  I  was  not  very  well  able  to 
go  myself,  and  I  sent  a  substitute  in  the  person  of  Lucien  Collins  Ford." 

Well,  Mr.  President,  I  will  not  detain  you  or  trespass  upon  the  patience  of 
the  audience  by  other  college  scenes.  But  there  is  one  reminiscence  I  would  like 
to  call  your  attention  to ;  and  if  there  are  boys  here,  I  know  they  will  take  an 
interest  in  it,  because  it  is  an  Indian  story. 

Sometime,  not  more  than  four  or  rive  years  ago,  there  died  a  man  of  93  years 
of  age,  at  Charleston,  W.  Va.,  Dr.  Patrick,  who  was  present  at  a  council  of  the 
Indians,  called  the  Grand  Council  of  the  Six  Nations  at  Oneida  Castle,  New 
York,  in  1806.  Tecumseh's  plan  was  to  enlist  all  Indians  of  North  America 
into  one  grand  combination,  to  prevent  the  white  man  from  crossing  and  occupy 
ing  the  lands  north  of  the  Ohio  and  west  of  the  Mississippi.  Dr.  Spicer  Patrick 
was  present  at  this  council,  and  although  only  then  a  boy  of  fourteen  years, 
listened  with  the  greatest  interest,  thoroughly  comprehending,  and  was  wont  to 
recall  to  his  friends  up  to  his  dying  day,  his  recollections  of  this,  the  most  elo 
quent  oration,  as  he  considered  it,  ever  delivered  on  the  American  Continent. 
Tecumseh  appealed  to  every  passion,  every  sentiment,  every  hope,  and  every  fear 
to  be  found  in  the  red  man's  breast.  He  implored  them  by  their  love  of  race,  by 
their  instinct  of  self-preservation,  by  their  wives  and  their  children,  to  check  this 
spread  of  the  white  man  across  the  Ohio.  After  more  than  one  hour's  impas 
sioned  language,  he  paused  for  a  reply.  Then  old  Schenandow,  the  grand 
Sachem  of  the  Oneidas,  who  was  over  99  years  of  age,  shook  his  head,  and  in  a 
few  words  said,  he  was  a  friend  of  the  white  man  and  would  not  fight  against  him. 


2IO  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


The  rest  of  the  Sachems  agreed  with  Schenandow,  and  Tecumseh,  turning  on 
his  heel  with  indignant  tread,  stalked  oft"  alone  into  the  neighboring  forest,  and 
soon  disappeared,  to  fall  at  last,  seven  years  after,  in  the  battle  of  the  Thames. 

If  he  could  have  prevented  this  great  Northwest  settlement  by  the  white 
man,  what  would  have  been  the  condition  of  our  country  by  this  time?  Need  I 
'picture  it?  Have  you  not  heard  the  magnificent  oration  of  yesterday,  and  the 
superb  oration  of  to-day,  picturing  in  glowing  terms  this  magnificent  empire  of 
the  Northwest.  It  is  the  Nation  of  all  the  great  Nations.  What  do  we  see  now  ? 
The  whole  continent  is  ours.  [Applause.] 


Gen.  Ewir.g :  I  see  in  the  aisle  before  me  Major  L.  P. 
Putnam,  a  great  grandson  of  the  hero  of  Ticonderoga,  Gen. 
Israel  Putnam,  the  wolf-catcher;  and  the  audience  would  be 
glad  to  have  a  three  to  five  minutes  talk  from  him. 

Mr.  Putnam :  I  can't  talk  before  such  an  audience  as  this 
here. 

Gen.  Ewing :  Yes,  you  can.  Come  on.  Get  up  here, 
now,  and  look  at  them. 

Mr.  Putnam :     I  am  a  little  ashamed  to  do  that. 

Amidst  the  applause  of  the  audience,  Mr.  L.  P.  Putnam 
stepped  to  the  platform  and  spoke  as  follows : 

Address   of  L.  P.  Putnam. 


To  be  sure,  I  am  a  descendant  of  the  great  General,  Israel  Putnam.  A 
great  many  years  ago,  a  brother  of  mine  and  myself  undertook  to  catch  some 
wolves,  and  we  undertook  to  run  them  down.  We  worked  at  it  for  six  days,  out 
in  the  crags  and  hollows,  but  without  success;  and  my  brother  said,  the  blood 
was  too  near  run  out,  we  couldn't  catch  the  wolves.  -That  is  the  trouble  now. 
I  guess  the  blood  is  too  near  run  out  to  make  a  speech.  [Laughter.]  I  don't 
think  there  ever  was  a  Putnam  that  was  a  speech-maker  around  these  parts. 

Gen.  Ewing  :     Yes,  there  was. 

Mr.  Putnam  :     I  can't  remember  one  ;  do  you? 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  211 


Gen.  Ewing  :     Yes.  you  are. 

Mr.  Putnam  :  I  was  born  on  the  2d  day  of  March,  1808,  six  miles  above 
here,  on  the  Muskingum  river,  pretty  near  in  the  woods,  in  a  log-cabin.  It  was 
not  such  a  log-cabin  as  our  committee  men  have  brought  here.  There  wasn't 
any  hewed  logs  in  those  days.  The  logs  in  those  days  were  just  as  they  were  cut 
from  the  trees.  I  understand  they  have  a  pistol  here  with  a  percussion  cap  on. 
We  didn't  have  any  percussion  caps  in  this  country  before  '36  or  '38.  But  that 
will  do  very  well  for  them  that  don't  look  into  the  matter.  [Laughter  and  ap 
plause.] 

I  can't  say  anything  more.     [Cries  of  "Go  on  !     Go  on !"] 

When  I  was  old  enough  to  go  to  Marietta,  my  father  had  a  pear  orchard; — 
I  will  tell  that  story. 

Gen.  Ewing :     Yes.     Go  on. 

Mr.  Putnam :  My  father,  Israel  Putnam  the  third,  was  the  first  man  that 
ever  brought  a  graft  or  a  scion  of  the  improved  fruits  of  Connecticut  or  Massa 
chusetts  to  the  western  country.  [A  by-stander:  That's  so.] 

Mr.  Putnam  :  That's  so.  Benjamin  Jennings;  I  have  got  his  journal  up  at 
my  house,  an  account  of  every  day's  travel  they  made  over  the  mountains  to 
this  place.  I  have  the  journal  here  in  my  house.  And  when  they  landed 
at  Belpre,  Ohio,  the  very  next  day  he  grafted  some  of  this  fruit.  After 
wards  he  went  back  to  New  England  and  married  Riny  Chandler,  who  lived  in 
Connecticut;  and  fixed  up  a  yoke  of  cattle  on  a  cart,  and  brought  them  over  the 
mountains  and  came  to  the  Monongahela  and  built  a  boat  and  floated  down  here, 
and  sent  his  oxen  down  with  Mr.  Ephraim  Cutler,  the  father  of  Mr.  William 
Cutler,  and  he  brought  them  down  to  this  country  through  the  woods. 

In  that  variety  of  fruit  the  Putnam  Russet  stood  high,  the  highest  of  all. 
The  New  Town  Pippin,  the  English  Pippin,  the  Long  Island  Pippin,  the 
Rhode  Island  Greening,  the  Winter  Pearamain,  etc.;  they  were  the  kinds  of  fruit 
that  he  brought  in  here  to  introduce  in  this  country.  The  old  ladies  that  came 
over  here — or  the  young  ladies — brought  seed  and  put  them  in  their  first  open 
ings  of  gardens  here.  And  he  sent  these  scions  on  and  they  were  engrafted  and 
divided ;  for  half  the  fruit  trees  they  would  have  half  the  scions. 

Now  I  can't  say  anything  more.     [Applause.] 


Gen.  Ewing  :  Cyrus  Ames,  of  Belpre,  member  of  one  of 
the  oldest  of  families  of  that  almost  oldest  of  settlements  in 
Ohio,  is  present,  and  is  expected  to  make  a  brief  address. 


212  REPORT    OF  THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


/\ddress   of    Cyrus  /\rr\es. 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  What  I  have  to  say  will  be  about  my  parents. 
They  came  here  in  pretty  early  times ;  no  doubt  about  the  first.  My  father  came 
from  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  about  '97  or  '8.  He  came  to  the  North.  He  did  not 
at  first  settle  in  Belpre.  There  was  a  settlement  here  below  in  Virginia,  and  he 
stopped  there  a  short  time.  He  was  a  particular  friend  of  Solon  Spencer ;  and  I 
have  heard  him  speak  of  persons  who  were  among  the  first  there,  and  mention 
incidents  that  I  know  he  went  there. 

He  worked  a  short  time  at  the  salt  springs,  where  the  settlers  got  their  salt. 
He  lived  in  Young  Bottom  a  short  time,  too.  That  is  where  he  lost  his  first  wife, 
and  also  there  they  had  their  first  child.  My  father  was  a  shoemaker — made  shoes 
for  all  the  adjoining  town  of  Belpre.  He  served  as  a  justice  of  the  peace  a  num 
ber  of  terms  during  his  life. 

The  first  place  I  ever  knew  of  his  living  in  Belpre  was  in  a  log-cabin,  on 
what  is  called  the  "Deacon  Mill's  Farm."  There  he  moved  in  with  Major  Banner 
Rice.  Major  Rice  was  a  pioneer  and  a  Revolutionary  soldier.  From  there  he 
moved  onto  the  Haskell  place.  He  was  a  Revolutionary  officer,  too,  and  a 
pioneer.  There  is  where  he  lived  and  where  he  died.  I  live  in  the  same  place, 
and  I  am  of.  the  same  name,  in  the  old  home.  It  was  built  over  seventy-five 
years  ago.  Where  I  lived  was  called  "The  Farmer's  Castle."  I  have  been  there 
and  saw  that,  an  old  block-house,  in  a  dilapidated  condition,  when  I  saw  it,  al 
though  I  remember  the  great  hewed  logs  it  was  made  of.  I  remember  the  early 
trees  spoken  of  by  Dr.  Hildreth,  standing  three  or  four  rods  off  the  northwest 
corner  ;  that  tree  was  deadened  by  burning  brush  around  it. 

I  never  saw  any  of  the  hard  times  with  early  settlers.  Always  had  a  com 
paratively  good  time  since  I  came  on  the  stage.  There  is  a  great  deal  more  re 
finement  now  than  there  was  then.  I  never  saw  a  buggy  or  a  piano  or  a  melo- 
deon  until  I  was  twenty-five  years  old.  People  then  traveled  on  horseback 
mostly.  They  traveled  in  most  anything  they  could  get.  •  I  saw  the  people  going 
to  the  meeting  with  an  ox-cart,  a  deacon  at  that.  There  has  been  a  great  change 
in  a  great  many  things  since  I  came  on  the  stage.  The  wolves  were  traveling  all 
along  the  hills  when  I  was  a  boy.  They  used  to  go  down  in  the  bottoms  and  kill 
our  sheep.  We  had  to  be  very  particular  about  our  sheep.  We  had  to  build 
houses.  I  well  remember  Gen.  Putnam's  sheep-pen,  that  was  built  so  they  climbed 
all  around  and  all  over  it.  Somebody  caught  a  wolf  down  in  the  bottoms  not 
far  from  our  house.  [Applause]. 

Gen.  Ewing  :     Before  this  meeting  is  closed  with  the  Dox- 
ology,  I  am  requested  to  announce  that  the  programme  has 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  21$ 

been  somewhat  changed  in  consequence  of  the  persistent  rain, 
and  that  the  afternoon  meeting  will  commence  at  three  o'clock, 
when  there  will  be  music,  and  the  address  of  Mr.  Daniels,  of 
Virginia.  Senator  Daniels  will  commence  at  half-past  three 
instead  of  half-past  two,  as  heretofore  stated.  It  is  hoped  that 
meantime  the  rain  will  cease. 

I  wish  to  say  that  Mr.  Daniels,  among  all  the  distinguished 
men  of  this  generation  of  Virginia,  stands,  I  think,  foremost  as 
an  orator ;  and  I  hope  that  no  one  will  miss  the  opportunity  of 
hearing  him  this  afternoon. 

This  evening,  at  eight  o'clock,  there  will  be  an  informal 
reception,  for  the  purpose  of  allowing  the  gentlemen  who  are 
strangers  here,  the  privilege  and  pleasure  of  meeting  those  of 
the  citizens  and  of  the  surrounding  country  who  will  assemble 
to  greet  them. 

We  will  now  close  with  the  Doxology. 

After  the  singing  of  the  Doxology,  as  announced,  by  the 
audience,  accompanied  by  the  Elgin  Band,  the  audience  was 
dismissed  until  3  o'clock  p.  M.,  Wednesday,  July  18,  1888. 


AFTERNOON  SESSION,  JULY  18—2:30  O'CLOCK. 


Lieutenant-Governor  Lyon,  of  Ohio,  presiding. 

Judge  W.  B.  Loomis,  in  calling  the  meeting  to  order,  said : 
Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  the  hour  has  now  arrived  for  the  com 
mencement  of  the  exercises  of  the  afternoon.  They  will  be 


214  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

presided  over  by  Lieutenant-Governor  Lyon,  of  Ohio,  whom  I 
now  have  the  pleasure  of  presenting  to  you.     [Applause.] 

Address  of  Lieut.-QoV.  Lyon. 


MY  COUNTRYMEN  :  We  have  been  sitting  here  from  day  to  day  during  the 
week  that  has  thus  far  passed,  listening  to  the  grand  oratory  and  beautiful  de 
scription  and  mind-pictures  of  the  events  that  have  come  to  us  as  a  people  in  the 
Northwest  Territory,  as  the  outgrowth  and  result  of  the  settlement  and  organiza 
tion  of  government  here  in  Marietta,  one  hundred  years  ago.  We  have  most  of 
us  become  familiar  with  the  grand  progress  in  events,  and  we  have  had  our  minds 
lifted  up  in  pride  as  we  have  listened  to  their  graphic  portrayal,  from  the  fact 
that  some  of  us,  at  least,  were  the  descendants  of  the  sturdy  pioneers  that  set 
tled  here  and  organized  government  in  the  Northwest  Territory  a  century  ago. 
And  those  who  are  not  descendants  take  pride  in  the  fact  that -they  enjoy  the 
blessings  and  benefits,  in  common  with  others,  that  have  followed  as  the  result 
of  that  settlement. 

It  seems  to  me,  my  fellow-citizens,  that  after  having  traversed  the  period  of 
development  of  this  territory,  and  had  pictured  to  us  the  building  up  of  the  five 
great  States  from  this  Northwest  Territory,  and  the  grandeur  and  progress  that 
has  been  made  in  intellectual  and  material  development,  in  mechanics  and  art, 
and  in  all  that  goes  to  make  our  country  great,  to  be  proper  at  this  time  that  we 
should  turn  back  in  the  pages  of  our  history  and  return  for  the  moment  to  our 
old  mother  State,  that  made  it  possible  that  this  government  should  be  founded 
here  [applause],  and  realizing  that  further  remarks  from  me  at  this  time  would 
be  inappropriate,  I  now  have  the  honor  and  pleasure  of  presenting  to  you  a  dis 
tinguished  statesman  from  the  mother  of  Presidents,  and  the  mother  of  the  great 
Northwest  Territory,  old  Virginia,  Hon.  John  W.  Daniel,  United  States  Senator 
from  Virginia.  [Great  applause.] 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  21$ 


Address  of  J-lorv.  JoKr\  W.  Darnel, 


U.  S.  SENATOR  FROM  VIRGINIA. 


LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR  LVON  OF  OHIO,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN — MY 
COUNTRYMEN  :  Amid  the  glad  harvest  of  peace,  it  is  with  reverence  that  I  stand 
in  the  footsteps  of  the  pioneers.  God,  saith  the  Koran,  hath  given  to  every 
people  a  prophet  in  their  own  tongue.  Happy  are  the  people  whose  prophets  and 
pathfinders  were  their  fathers,  and  who,  in  turning  over  a  hundred  years  of  the 
pages  of  their  history,  can  look  upon  the  prophecies  of  the  fathers,  and  upon  the 
prosperous  futures  of  their  children  and  find  them  corresponding,  the  one  unto 
the  other,  like  perfect  music  unto  perfect  words.  [Applause.] 

The  founders  of  Marietta  did  not  come  to  the  great  Northwest  as  the  Span 
iard  went  to  the  Mississippi  in  search  for  gold.  They  taught  a  lesson  of  history 
in  the  character  of  their  laws.  They  taught  a  lesson  of  courage  in  the  very  nature 
of  their  bold  adventure.  They  taught  a  lesson  of  prudence  in  the  sedate  and 
organic  way  in  which  they  went  about  their  business.  But  they  came  here  as 
home-seekers  and  home-builders.  They  remembered  that  the  most  sacred  altar  of 
the  living  God  is  the  mother's  knee,  and  that  the  brightest  torch  that  liberty  lights 
when  she  goes  to  the  head  of  brave  battalions  is  kindled  by  the  fireside  of  home. 
[Applause.]  They  came  here  bringing  with  them  their  household  gods,  their 
wives  and  their  children.  And  when  they  faced  the  savage  towards  the  West, 
they  could  look  over  their  shoulders  and  see  behind  them  the  sweet  face  of  woman 
and  hear  the  prattle  of  little  children  around  the  cabin  door.  [Renewed  ap 
plause.]  It  was  this,  as  much  as  anything  else,  that  made  them  great.  For  the 
home  is  the  corner-stone  of  earth's  greatest  temples.  And  it  was  an  American 
poet  who  sung — 

"Through  pleasures  and  palaces,  where  're  we  may  roam, 
Be  it  ever  so  humble,  there's  no  place  like  home."       [Applause.] 

The  mustard  seed  which  fell  here  in  this  beautiful  soil  a  hundred  years  ago, 
has  now  expanded  into  a  great  tree,  whose  branches  spread  over  a  continent,  and 
the  birds  of  the  air  from  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  do  lodge  therein  and  join  in 
the  chorus  of  liberty  and  independence.  [Cheers.] 

You  will  pardon  me  now,  my  friends,  I  hope,  if,  in  accepting  the  kind  sug 
gestion  of  your  honored  Lieutenant-Governor,  I  may  be  permitted  for  a  while — 
not  searching,  indeed,  in  quaint  and  curious  volumes  of  long-forgotten  lore,  but 
turning  over  some  of  the  rather  faded  and  neglected  pages  of  our  past  history — 
to  follow  up  some  of  the  successive  stages  of  civilization  and  progress,  which 
finally  culminated  in  the  landing  of  the  new  Mayflower  on  the  banks  of  the 
Muskingum. 


2l6  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


On  May  13,  1606,  in  the  reign  of  James  I,  of  England — fourteen  years 
before  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  landed  at  Plymouth  Rock,  there  was  planted  at  James 
town,  on  the  James  River,  under  the  leadership  of  John  Smith,  the  first  colony 
of  the  English  speaking  race  that  ever  trod  upon  American  soil.  Here,  on  the 
7th  day  of  April,  1788,  there  was  planted  by  your  fathers,  from  the  pilgrim  land, 
the  first  colony  of  the  same  race,  that  moved  after  the  Revolution  into  the  North 
west  Territory ;  and  here,  one  hundred  years  ago,  Arthur  St.  Clair,  the  first  Gov 
ernor,  was  inaugurated,  and  civil  government,  under  the  auspices  of  the  United 
States,  was  established.  That  picture  of  the  first  Governor  of  the  Northwest,  as 
he  stood  in  the  rustic  bower,  and  with  the  Ordinance  of  1787  as  a  Constitution, 
and  that  group  of  the  new  pilgrims  of  the  West  around  him,  is  a  picture  which 
deserves  to  be  framed  in  diamonds  and  in  gold.  [Renewed  cheering.]  It  is  a 
scene  grander  than  any  over  which  was  spread  the  roof  of  a  Greek  or  Roman 
temple.  [Applause.]  When  that  scene  transpired,  the  comers  by  way  of  James 
town  were  pressing  over  the  mountains,  and  were  along  your  frontier.  Plymouth 
Rock  and  Jamestown  had  met  together  upon  the  Ohio  bank. 

The  old  commonwealth  of  Virginia  had  been  the  first  colony  in  America  to 
frame  a  written  Constitution,  embodying  the  principles  of  liberty.  She  was  the 
first  colony,  too,  of  all  the  colonies,  to  declare  that  these  united  colonies  should 
be  free  and  independent  States.  It  was  Virginia,  alone  and  single-handed, 
without  a  soldier  of  the  Union  by  her  side  in  that  struggle,  or  a  soldier  of  any 
other  State,  that  made  war  against  the  British  settlements  in  the  Northwest,  and 
wrested  that  precious  legacy  from  the  British  crown.  [Applause.]  She  was  en 
titled  to  it  by  her  charter;  she  grasped  it  with  her  arms.  It  was  by  her  that 
military  authority  of  Americans  was  there  first  exercised,  and  by  her,  that  civil 
government  was  there  first  established.  Your  forefathers  of  New  England  were 
the  first,  however,  to  strike  the  battle  blow  of  liberty  at  Concord  and  at  Lexing 
ton,  and  to  follow  it  up  with  a  succession  of  blows  than  which  braver  or  better 
ones  never  were  delivered.  [Applause.]  They  were  the  first,  too,  to  rear  beyond 
old  State  lines  of  settlement  and  tide-water  jurisdiction,  the  standards  of  an  ab 
solutely  free  civilization.  [Renewed  applause.] 

Their  community  (it  was  well  said  this  morning,  by  the  honorable  speaker 
Gen.  Ewing,  who  anticipated  the  words  from  my  lips)  might  truly  be  described 
as  the  first-born  of  the  Nation ;  their  settlement,  as  a  second  landing  of  the  pil 
grims.  Marietta  is  the  Plymouth  Rock  of  the  great  West,  and  what  the  pilgrims 
did  for  New  England,  your  people  have  done  for  the  land  which  they  have  in 
habited.  [Applause.] 

When  Marietta  was  started  here  a  century  ago,  George  Washington  deliv 
ered  a  eulogy  upon  its  colonists,  before  which  all  other  eulogies  must  pale 
Said  he,  "  No  other  colony  in  America  was  ever  settled  under  such  favorable  cir 
cumstances  as  that  which  has  just  commenced  at  the  Muskingum.  Information, 
propei ty  and  strength,  will  be  its  characteristics;  I  know  many  of  the  settlers 
personally ;  and  there  never  were  men  better  calculated  to  promote  the  welfare  of 
such  a  community."  Washington's  motto  was  a  very  practical  one,  "  Exitus  acta 
probat" — "  The  event  proves  the  deed."  The  history  of  the  Marietta  colony  has 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       217 


proven  the  worth  of  its  founders,  and  verified  the  opinion  which  the  father  of 
his  country  expressed.  That  your  people  are  filled  with  information,  is  attended 
by  the  fact  that  here  in  Ohio  are  nearly  a  million  of  school  children,  with  nearly 
one  thousand  newspapers,  and  there  is  a  line  of  many  colleges  commencing  here, 
and  stretching  across  the  continent.  But,  need  I  look  beyond  the  bright  eyes 
and  sparkling  faces  of  this  audience,  to  know  that  information  and  intelligence 
are  here  ?  Is  wealth  here  ?  Let  the  face  of  your  country,  an  open  manuscript, 
give  its  answer.  Is  strength  here?  The  glory  of  man,  says  Solomon,  is  strength, 
and  strength  is  here.  Strength  of  character,  strength  of  intelligence,  strength 
of  patriotism,  strength  of  heart  and  will.  [Applause.]  Strength,  too,  that  most 
beautiful  of  all  things  that  are  strong,  strength  in  the  sweet  graces  and  generous 
hospitalities  of  life  which  make  life  worth  the  living. 

Your  neighbor  of  Old  Virginia  salutes  you  to-day  across  the  beautiful  river. 
Your  brethren  of  the  whole  Union  congratulate  you  that  the  rounded  century  of 
your  social  life  has  more  than  fulfilled  the  promise  of  its  dawn.  They  contem 
plate  with  sympathetic  pride,  your  glad  reunion  of  kinship  and  your  splendid 
memorials  of  progress.  They  rejoice  with  you  that  peace  and  happiness  dwell 
among  us  all,  "amid  the  united  and  married  calm  of  States."  [Applause.] 

The  settlers  of  Marietta  were  different  from  any  other  of  their  predecessors, 
or  of  those  who  followed  them  in  settling  up  the  American  country.  Their  Con 
stitution  was  ready  made,  and  it  fitted  them.  They  were  not  its  authors,  but 
they  were  its  promoters,  and  it  was  made  to  suit  them.  They  came  here  because 
it  suited  them,  and  they  embodied  in  it  the  highest  thought  of  that  time  or  of 
any  time.  It  took  the  country  three  quarters  of  a  century  to  catch  up  with  the 
banner  that  was  given  to  the  breeze  at  Marietta.  I  am  speaking,  of  course,  of 
the  celebrated  Ordinance  of  1787,  for  the  establishment  of  civil  government  in 
the  Northwest  Territory.  It  was  enacted  the  same  year  of  the  Constitution,  and 
while  the  Constitutional  Convention  was  in  session.  It  came  before  our  perpetual 
Union  in  point  of  time,  and  it  went  beyond  the  Constitution  of  that  Union  in  its 
free  principles.  It  was  second  in  importance  to  no  act  that  ever  emanated  from 
any  parlimentary  body  in  the  world.  [Applause.] 

In  the  Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States,  there  stand  together  four  State 
papers.  First,  is  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Second,  are  the  Articles  of 
Confederation.  Third,  is  the  Northwest  Ordinance  of  1787;  and  then,  fourth, 
the  Federal  Constitution,  which  is  our  heritage  yet.  These  are  the  four  steps  by 
which  the  American  people  climbed  to  nationality.  And  if  I  were  to  name  the 
fifth  one,  I  would  say  it  was  the  cession  of  Virginia  to  the  Union  of  the  North 
west  Territory.  A  magnificent  dowry,  that  of  the  mother  State  to  the  young 
Union.  The  most  splendid  necklace  with  which  a  fond  mother  ever  adorned  her 
daughter  bride.  [Applause.] 

I  shall  not  go  minutely  into  the  discussion  of  the  details  of  the  Ordinance 
of  1787,  for  you  have  heard  them  so  often  discussed  that  it  would  be  as  weary, 
perhaps,  to  you,  as  a  thrice-told  tale.  But  I  have  been  curious  to  ponder  what 
might  have  been  the  fate  of  those  Americans  who  settled  here,  if  the  jurisdiction 


2£8  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


of  the  Old  Dominion  had  continued  to  extend  beyond  the  Ohio  River ;  and  to 
consider  wherein  the  two  civilizations  which  were  bordered  upon  each  other, 
were  differentiated  from  each  other.  The  gentleman — Gen.  Ewing — who  spoke 
this  morning  in  a  most  eloquent  and  able  speech,  to  which  I  listened  with  great 
pleasure,  spoke  of  the  land  monopolies  which  existed  in  the  Old  Dominion  and 
congratulated  his  countrymen  of  Ohio,  that  here  there  was  to  be  free  land, 
broken  up  in  small  parcels  for  the  people ;  and  that  the  law  of  primogeniture, 
which  passed  the  great  estate  to  the  oldest  son,  had  never  taken  root  upon  Ohio 
soil.  I  sympathize  entirely  in  the  sentiments  he  uttered  ;  but  will  that  gentleman 
allow  me  to  remind  him,  and  to  remind  you,  my  countrymen,  that  land  monopoly 
had  been  broken  in  Old  Virginia  before  the  pilgrims  of  New  England  trod  upon 
Ohio  soil,  by  the  pen  and  by  the  genius  of  Thomas  Jefferson  ;  and  primogeniture 
had  passed  away  from  that  land  two  years  before  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  [Ap 
plause.]  Congratulations  cannot  be  too  frequent,  nor  can  the  fact  be  too  often 
repeated,  that  the  pilgrims  of  Marietta,  brought  here  absolutely  religious  liberty. 
But,  may  I  be  pardoned,  as  a  son  of  the  great  old  commonwealth  beyond  the 
river,  if  I  remind  you,  that  on  the  tombstone  of  Thomas  Jefferson  is  told  the 
story.  Though  he  had  been  Governor  of  Virginia,  twice  President  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  Minister  to  France,  a  leader  in  our  Legislature  and  in  Con 
gress — there  is  'graved  upon  that  stone  this  simple  record,  written  by^himself  : 
"Here  lies  buried  Thomas  Jefferson,  Author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
of  the  Statutes  of  Virginia  for  religious  freedom,  and  father  of  the  University  of 
Virginia."  Those  statutes  of  religious  freedom  had  been  carved  by  the  pen  of 
Jefferson  upon  the  rock  e'er  the  flag  of  the  pilgrim  floated  on  the  Muskingum 
shore. 

But,  I  come  now  to  the  point  wherein  we  did  differentiate.  The  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States,  framed  by  your  fathers,  and  by  the  fathers  of  us  all,  had 
recognized  in  it  the  institution  of  slavery,  and  it  provided  that  if  into  any  free 
State  there  should  go  a  fugitive  slave  he  should  be  restored  to  his  owners  under 
the  laws. 

The  Ordinance  of  1787,  as  you  were  reminded  this  morning,  contains  that 
same  provision.  But  here  was  the  difference;  that  in  the  Ordinance  of  1787 
there  were  written  those  words,  which  will  be,  and  are,  immortal.  That  here 
after — I  need  not  repeat  them  in  their  length — slavery  should  nowhere  exist  in 
the  Northwest  Territory  of  the  United  States.  And  it  was  in  this  simple  and 
single  feature  that  the  two  communities  were  differentiated  from  each  other. 
And,  yet,  I  fancy — for  I  know  the  prejudice  that  has  existed  in  the  United  States 
against  slavery,  and  perhaps  amongst  some  towards  those  who  were  born  in  slave 
communities — I  fancy  it  is  not  irrelevant  to  remind  you  that  if  the  men  of  the 
early  generations  of  this  country  found  slavery  in  thejr  midst  as  an  institution, 
which  had  taken  root  deep  down  in  the  soil,  and  did  not  at  once  cut  it  up  and  throw 
it  away,  that  they  had  that  broad  and  genuine  patriotism,  that  unselfish  love  of 
country,  that  regard  for  others,  which  taught  them  to  do  unto  others  even  as 
they  would  have  others  do  unto  them.  Slavery  was  upon  them,  but  they  refused 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       2IQ 


t 

to  thrust  it  upon  others.  The  committee  which  reported  the  Ordinance  of  1787, 
was  Southern  in  caste.  Three  members  were  from  the  Southern  States,  and  but 
two  were  from  the  North.  In  the  Congress  which  passed  that  ordinance,  and 
dedicated  this  land  to  freedom,  there  were  represented  rive  Southern  States,  and 
but  three  of  the  North,  and  eleven  Southern  representatives  to  but  nine  of  the 
North.  [Applause.]  And  so,  if  you  trace  to-day  the  footprints  of  your  progress, 
the  magnanimous  mind  that  is  glad  to  give  credit  wheresoever  it  may  belong, 
will  not  deny  to  the  early  statesmen  of  this  country,  whether  they  came  from  the 
North,  South,  East  or  West,  the  tribute  due  to  broad,  unselfish  patriotism.  You, 
I  am  sure,  will  not  decline  to  recognize  merit  where  it  is  due,  and  to  crown  it 
with  its  crown.  [Applause.] 

And,  let  me  say  further,  my  countrymen,  that  the  language  of  the  Ordi 
nance  of  1787 — the  Sixth  Article — was  the  language  almost  verbatim  et  literatim 
of  Thomas  Jefferson.  In  March,  1784,  when  Jefferson  and  Monroe  and  Harding 
and  Lee  presented  to  the  Federal  Government  the  deed  of  cession  of  the  North 
west  territory,  on  the  same  day,  three  years  before  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  Jefferson 
drew  his  ordinance  which  provided  that  after  1800,  slavery  should  nowhere  exist 
— not  only  prohibiting  it  in  the  Northwest  Territory  of  the  United  States,  but 
prohibiting  it  everywhere  in  the  territory  of  the  United  States.  [Applause  ]  So 
it  will  be  seen  that  that  great  man,  and  far-reaching  patriot,  who  had  a  genius 
for  political  affairs,  such  as  Francis  Bacon  had  for  science  and  Shakespeare  for 
poesy,  held  the  map  of  the  century  in  his  mental  vision  as  plainly  then  as  you 
and  I  can  read  it  now. 

I  take  from  Mr.  Bancroft  a  synopsis  of  the  history  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787, 
and  he  cannot  certainly  be  suspected  of  partiality  in  making  it.  In  summing  up 
the  credit  that  is  due  in  various  directions  for  the  clause  interdicting  slavery,  he 
says :  "Thomas  Jefferson  first  summoned  Congress  to  prohibit  slavery  in  all  the 
territories  of  the  United  States.  Rufus  King  lifted  up  the  measure  from  where 
it  lay,  almost  lifeless,  and  suggested  the  immediate  instead  of  the  prospective 
prohibition;  a  Congress,  composed  of  five  Southern  to  one  from  Naw  England 
and  two  from  the  Middle  States,  headed  by  William  Grayson,  supported  by 
Richard  Henry  Lee,  and  using  Nathan  Dane  as  scribe,  carried  the  measure  to  the 
goal  in  the  amended  form  in  which  King  had  caused  it  to  be  referred  to  a  com 
mittee,  and  as  Jefferson  had  proposed,  placed  it  under  the  sanction  of  an  irrevo 
cable  compact." 

When  we  explore  the  sources  of  our  American  history,  glory  shines  in  our 
faces  and  lights  our  pathway,  and  there  is  a  plenty  for  Nathan  Dane  and  Manasseh 
Cutler,  and  for  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  for  all  the  rest,  leaving  a  pretty  large  sur 
plus  to  be  disbursed  among  all  their  descendants.  [Applause.] 

When  we  read  now,  fellow-citizens,  the  legend  which  history  has  carved  in 
the  stone  at  Marietta,  we  see  what  deep  significance  it  possessed.  It  is  more  than 
probable  that  had  slavery  entered  here,  slavery  would  still  exist  in  the  United 
States,  or  that  the  United  States  would  be  split  up  into  free  and  slave  confed 
eracies. 


22O  REPORT    OF     THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


t 

We  must  then  contemplate  the  event  which  you  celebrate  to-day  as  the  birth 
day  of  a  new  civilization.  More  than  the  forty  centuries  that  looked  down  from 
the  pyramids  upon  Napoleon,  when  he  fought  the  Mamelukes  in  their  shadow, 
looked  down  upon  your  fathers,  and  prepared  the  way  for  their  coming.  [Ap 
plause.]  And  more  than  forty  centuries  will  have  passed  away  eer  the  waves  of 
their  influence  have  ceased  to  be  felt  upon  the  shores  of  time. 

The  establishment  of  civil  government  here,  then,  is  not  to  be  regarded  as 
merely  the  formation  of  a  community  of  pioneers  upon  the  borders  of  a  wilder 
ness.  The  Legend  of  Marietta  was  the  title-page  of  a  new  volume  in  the  affairs 
of  men.  It  was  the  bugle-call  of  an  advanced  guard  of  the  human  race,  starting 
forth  upon  a  new  march  of  progress,  upon  new  principles  of  action.  It  was  a 
new  translation  of  the  Revolution  of  1776,  for  a  new  land  and  a  new  people.  It 
was  an  amendment  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  It  was  a  supplementary 
Federal  Constitution.  [Renewed  applause.] 

The  inauguration  of  Arthur  St.  Clair  as  Governor  of  the  Northwest,  was  not 
only  the  beginning  o'f  a  new  government — it  was  the  inauguration  of  a  new  era. 
It  made  the  man  regardless  of  anything  else  except  the  fact  that  he  was  a  man, 
the  unit  of  power  in  the  forces  of  civilization.  [Applause.] 

The  lessons,  my  countrymen,  which  we  read  here,  are  two-fold.  The  first  is 
the  lesson  of  liberty  which  we  gather  from  the  books ;  -the  second  is  beyond  the 
books,  for  it  made  them  ;  it  is  the  triumph  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  The  Roman 
counted  time  ab  urbe  condita,  from  the  building  of  the  Seven-Hilled  City.  You 
may  reckon  the  stages  of  that  splendid  march  of  progress  which  began  at  Mari 
etta  and  that  now  pauses  at  the  Golden  Gate,  ab  urbe  condita,  from  the  building  of 
the  cabin  upon  the  bank  of  the  Muskingum.  [Applause.] 

There  is  no  more  attractive  page  in  all  our  history,  and  I  congratulate  the 
children  of  the  pioneers  that  it  is  to  them  a  constant  application.  [Applause.] 
But  now,  if  you  will  allow  me,  I  will  probe  a  little  further  into  the  antiquities  of 
our  history.  The  land  upon  which  your  beautiful  homes  are  builded  was  inhab 
ited  successively  by  the  mound-builder,  by  the  Indian,  by  the  French,  by  the 
English,  by  the  Virginian  and  the  American.  Two  races  of  barbarians  and  two 
of  civilization  have  dominated  here.  The  mound-builder,  in  some  period  too  re 
mote  to  name,  dwelt  throughout  this  region.  The  Indian  was — and  Lo !  he  is 
not.  And  you  can  hear  only  the  music  of  a  voice  which  has  passed  away  in  the 
names  of  your  rivers,  and  your  mountains,  and  your  stately  cities,  when  he  who 
gave  them  is  forgotten. 

Three  of  the  great  nations  of  the  earth  competed  for  mastery  here:  Spain, 
France  and  England,  and  two  of  them  possessed  it.  The  Italian,  Christopher 
Columbus,  discovered  America  under  the  auspices  of*  Spain.  Ponce  de  Leon,  the 
Spaniard,  planted  the  standard  of  his  monarch  in  Florida.  De  Soto,  the  Span 
iard,  penetrated  to  the  Mississippi  in  search  for  gold ;  there  died,  and  was  buried 
in  its  waters.  When  the  war  of  the  Revolution  was  fought,  Spain  had  acquired 
from  France  all  of  her  possessions  in  North  America  that  did  not  pass  to  Eng- 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  221 


land.  And  beyond  the  Mississippi  was  stretched  her  eager  and  grasping  hand, 
even  over  towards  where  you  now  are.  Spain,  in  1779,  making  the  condition  of 
her  friendship  to  the  United  States,  that  we  should  cede  away  and  help  her  to 
obtain  this  Northwest  territory. 

The  Spaniard  has  disappeared.  The  splendor  of  his  career  is  only  a  tradi 
tion.  The  French  were  the  discoverers  and  were  the  first  masters  of  the  Northwest. 
Before  John  Smith  landed  at  Jamestown,  Champlain  was  the  father  of  Canada. 
A  year  after  Smith  settled  at  Jamestown  Champlain  founded  Quebec.  The  soldier, 
and  the  priest,  and  the  fur-trader  of  France  penetrated  through  all  this  region. 
A  hundred  years  before  the  Revolution,  the  French  went  down  the  Ohio  and  the 
Mississippi.  They  colonized  Louisiana.  The  valley  of  the  Mississippi  and  the 
St.  Lawrence  Basin  constituted  New  France.  They  spread  over  the  Northwest 
and  into  Pennsylvania.  They  founded  Detroit  in  1701,  New  Orleans  in  1717, 
Vincennes  in  1735,  and  St.  Louis  in  1764.  The  village  of  Sault  Sainte  Marie,  of 
which  the  representative  from  Michigan  spoke  the  other  day,  was  fourteen  years 
older  than  Philadelphia,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  older  than  Marietta. 
They  built  Fort  DuQuesne,  where  Pittsburgh  now  stands,  in  1754.  They  defeated 
Braddock,  with  Washington  at  his  side,  at  the  battle  of  Monongahela,and  threat 
ened  Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and  Virginia  with  ruin.  Ah !  the  lillies  of  France 
were  blooming  then.  They  were  blooming  and  blossoming  all  over  the  North 
west  Territory,  from  the  snows  of  Canada,  where  they  started,  down  to  the  cane- 
brakes  of  Louisiana.  But  the  drum-beat  of  England  was  ere  long  heard  and  was 
not  easily  silenced.  The  red-coat  was  hard  to  put  down.  The  wars  of  Europe 
projected  themselves  across  the  ocean  and  ran  into  the  wilderness.  "  French- 
America  had  two  heads,"  says  Parkman,  "one  among  the  snows  of  Canada 
and  one  among  the  cane-brakes  of  Louisiana.  One  communicating  with  the 
world  through  the  Gulf  of  St. 'Lawrence  and  the  other  through  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico." 

The  English  failed  at  the  battle  of  Monongahela,  when  Braddock  was  de 
feated,  to  break  the  communication  between  these  two  heads,  and  the  door  of  the 
Northwest  was  shut  in  their  faces.  But,  on  the  night  of  the  I3th  of  September, 
1759,  Wolfe  climbed  the  Heights  of  Abraham,  and  struck  the  head  that  lay  pil 
lowed  amidst  the  snows  of  Canada.  Quebec  fell.  The  beginning  of  the  end  of 
French  domination  in  the  Northwest  had  come. 

"The  triumph  of  Wolfe  marks  the  greatest  turning  point  as  yet  discoverable 
in  modern  history,"  says  John  Fiske ;  and  Green,  the  author  of  the  History  of 
the  English  people,  declares  that  "  With  the  triumph  of  Wolfe,  on  the  Heighths 
of  Abraham,  began  the  history  of  the  United  States." 

An  American  writer,  Mr.  Hinsdale,  the  historian  of  the  Northwest,  has  added 
his  own  judgment  in  the  matter.  Says  he  :  "  James  Wolfe's  highlanders  and 
grenadiers  at  Quebec,  and  not  the  embattled  farmers  at  Lexington,  won  the  first 
great  victory  of  the  American  revolution." 


222  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


Canada  was  now  lost  to  France;  and  in  1763  the  French  King  ceded  it  to 
the  British,  and  all  of  his  possessions  east  of  the  Mississippi  except  the  town  of 
New  Orleans  and  the  island  on  which  it  was  situated. 

The  path  from  the  Heighths  of  Abraham  led  to  Independence  Hall.  Inde 
pendence  Hall  led  finally  to  Vorktown,  and  Vorktown  guided  the  footsteps  of 
your  fathers  to  Marietta.  [Applause.]  This,  my  countrymen,  then,  is  the  lesson 
which  I  read  here. 

The  Latin  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  had  come  in  contact,  and  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  won.  [Applause.]  That  race  won  again  when  Jefferson  acquired  Louisi 
ana  from  the  French,  and  opened  a  new  sky  for  the  star  of  empire  to  glitter. 
That  act  made  the  father  of  waters  the  free  possession  of  the  American  people. 
Every  inch  of  ground  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  has  ever  won,  he  has  held  and  he 
holds.  He  has  never  fallen  in  his  strife  for  empire.  [Here  the  speaker  was  in 
terrupted  by  a  steamboat  whistle  near  at  hand.  Continuing,  he  said :]  I  am 
willing  to  try  most  anything,  except  speaking  against  an  engine  [laughter],  and 
when  it  comes  to  that,  I  recognize,  that  discretion  is  the  better  part  of  valor 
[Renewed  laughter.]  The  Anglo-Saxon  has  never  fallen  in  the  strife  for  empire, 
save  when  he  was  himself  his  dearest  foe.  He  has  always  won  his  freedom  with 
his  own  right  arm.  He  has  given  it  to  others,  but  he  has  never  received  it  from 
anyone  but  himself.  [Applause.]  He  has  always  bequeathed  freedom  to  his 
children,  and  wherever  he  is,  he  rules — "  From  Greenland's  icy  mountains  to 
India's  coral  strands."  [Applause.] 

Here,  then,  I  read  again  between  the  lines  of  your  legends,  which  history 
carved  here  when  she  alighted  at  Marietta  upon  eagle's  wings  and  built  her  nest, 
and  the  reading  is  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  is  already  America's  conqueror,  and 
will  be,  in  the  Providence  of  God  and  in  his  own  good  time,  the  world's  con 
queror.  [Applause.] 

Going  forth,  conquering  and  to  conquer,  with  the  language  of  Shakespeare 
and  Milton,  with  the  code  of  Blackstone,  with  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
with  the  American  Constitution  and  the  Creed  of  Christ.  [Applause.] 

The  man  who  conquered  here  was  the  Anglo-Saxon ;  and  the  destiny  of  the 
Northwest  had  thrown  its  shadow  before  when  the  first  pale-face  peered  over  the 
Alleghenies,  coming  from  Old  Virginia,  and  when  the  first  white  arm  was  bared 
to  take  the  plunge  into  the  Ohio.  [Applause.] 

The  idea  that  conquered  here  was  liberty.  The  people  who  conquered  here 
were  your  own  flesh  and  blood — bone  of  your  bone  and  flesh  of  your  flesh.  And, 
though  I  am  rather  a  distant  kinsman,  as  I  come,  too,  with  my  people  from  the 
great  source  of  our  race,  "  from  where  the  yellow-haired,  the  blue-eyed  Saxon 
came,  I  feel  that  I  may  claim  kinship  here,  and  have  "that  claim  allowed.  [Ap 
plause.] 

Now,  fellow-citizens,  I  am  going  a  little  more  into  detail  about  your  North 
west  Territory.  To  the  greatness  of  the  early  settlers  of  Virginia,  to  the  courage 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       223 


of  her  arms,  to  the  magnanimity  of  her  heart,  the  people  of  the  United  States 
are  chiefly  indebted  for  the  Northwest  Territory.  But  not  alone  to  Virginia  by 
any  means,  nor  so  understand  me.  Virginia  herself  could  not  have  made  good 
her  own  title  to  the  Northwest,  or  even  had  an  opportunity  to  contest  it,  had  not 
the  full  dozen  of  the  thirteen  colonies  stood  by  her  side  and  helped  together,  to 
work  out  a  common  salvation.  And  the  fact  that  her  great  debt  to  her  sister 
colonies  antedates  their  debt  to  her,  has  led  some  to  disparage  the  claim  which 
she  made.  The  late  Chief  Justice  Chase,  that  eminent  jurist  of  Ohio,  in  his 
preliminary  sketch  of  your  early  history,  which  is  given  as  a  preface  to  the  stat 
utes  of  your  State,  declared  that  it  was  a  vacant  Territory,  wrested  from  the 
common  enemy  of  the  United  States  and  at  the  joint  expense  of  all  the  States, 
and  ought,  of  right,  to  belong  to  Congress  in  trust  for  the  common  use  and  bene 
fit  of  the  whole  nation.  [Applause.]  I,  too,  would  applaud  the  sentiment,  for 
it  would  have  been  a  broad  and  equitable,  and  just  one,  but  for  one  little  circum 
stance  ;  and  that  is,  that  it  is  not  quite  consistent  with  the  fact.  [Laughter  and 
applause.]  It  isn't  so — and,  if  you  will  allow  me,  I  will  give  you  the  language 
of  one  whose  pen  is  fresh  from  the  dictating  of  a  fair  and  impartial  history. 
Professor  Hinsdale,  Professor  of  Hiram  College,  the  biographer  and  editor  of  the 
works  of  Garfield,  after  sifting  the  matter,  declares  that  "Congress  never  main 
tained  a  National  claim  on  this  ground  or  on  any  other  ground."  I  will  also 
quote  a  few  words  from  the  speech  of  General  Garfield,  delivered  at  Burton,  in 
this  State,  in  1873:  "The  cession  of  that  great  Territory  under  the  treaty  of 
1783,  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  was  due  mainly  to  the  fore 
sight,  to  the  courage  and  the  endurance  of  one  man  who  never  received  from 
his  country  any  adequate  recognition  for  his  great  services.  That  man  was 
George  Rogers  Clark;"  and  the  eulogy  that  I  have  pronounced  upon  him,  came 
from  the  lips  of  James  A.  Garfield.  [Applause.]  This  man  was  not  acting  in 
the  conquest  of  the  Northwest  under  the  Centennial  Congress.  lie  was  not  in 
the  service  of  the  United  States.  He  conducted  his  own  expeditions  under  a 
commission  from  Patrick  Henry,  the  first  American  Governor  of  the  Old  Domin 
ion.  His  soldiers  were  Virginians,  enlisted  and  paid  by  the  State  of  Virginia — the 
only  one  of  all  the  States  that  conducted  war  upon  her  own  hook,  at  the  same 
time  that  she  joined  her  sister  colonies  in  paying  due  attention  to  her  British 
brethren.  [Applause.]  And  her  title  to  the  Northwest  Territory  rests  upon 
separate  and  distinct  grounds.  First,  upon  the  charter  which  she  received  from 
the  crown  of  England,  which  has  been  too  often  quoted  for  me  to  cite  again  now. 
Second,  upon  your  own  Ordinance  of  1787,  for  in  that  Ordinance  is  a  distinct 
recognition  of  the  hands  from  whom  the  gift  was  received  in  this  language  : 
"There  shall  be  formed  in  the  said  Territory  not  less  than  three,  nor  more  than 
five  States,  and  the  boundaries  of  the  States,  as  soon  as  Virginia  shall  alter  her 
act  of  cession,  and  consent  to  the  same,  shall  become  fixed  and  established  as 
follows :  "  It  then  defines  those  boundaries  to  be  confirmed  by  her  consent,  and 
15  C.B. 


224  REPORT   OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


the  Virginia  title  to  the  Northwest  Territory  is  exactly  the  same  as  that  which 
any  man  in  Marietta  owns  to  the  house  he  lives  in.  Upon  that  title  your  history 
and  your  houses  are  builded,  and  I  may  fitly  say:  "thereby  hangs  all  the  law 
and  the  prophets."  [Applause.] 

Now,  then,  let  me  turn  your  attention  a  little  further  to  another  heroic  page 
of  our  revolutionary  history.  Long  before  the  Revolution,  the  people  of  the 
East  had  turned  their  faces  towards  the  West.  Their  progress  in  that  direction 
was  gradual,  though  continuous.  It  was  more  than  a  hundred  years  before  the 
settlement  at  Jamestown,  before  any  of  the  colonists,  who  clung  closely  to  the  sea 
board,  passed  beyond  the  Alleghanies.  But,  in  1710,  Alexander  Spotswood  be 
came  Governor  of  Virginia.  His  father  was  one  of  Marlborough's  men,  who 
fought  at  Blenheim,  and  of  whom  it  was  related  that  he  had  been  shot  with  a 
four-pound  cannon  ball,  and  only  wounded.  [Laughter.]  The  son  of  such  a 
sire  must  be  expected  indeed  to  become  a  sturdy  soldier;  and  sturdy  soldier  and 
writer  he  was,  too.  Three  things  he  brought  with  him  to  Virginia;  a  spirit  of 
adventure,  the  contents  of  a  pretty  good  cellar,  and  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus. 
Three  things  that  have  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with  each  other  in  this  adventurous 
world  of  ours.  [Laughter  and  applause.] 

In  1716.  he  led  an  expedition  to  see — for  curiosity  was  excited — and  like  the 
little  boy  who  wanted  to  open  the  watch  to  see  the  wheels  go  round — Spotswood 
and  his  men  longed  to  get  to  the  top  of  the  Alleghanies  in  order  that  they  might 
discover  what  was  going  on  on  the  other  side.  The  Governor  started  out  from 
Williamsburg,  the  ancient  capital  of  the  Old  Dominion,  with  his  coach  and  staff. 
Now,  a  coach  and  sta'ff  was  a  very  fine  thing  for  invading  the  Northwest  with, 
wasn't  it?  [Laughter.]  And  he  was  joined  by  a  company  of  Virginians,  and  a 
company  of  Rangers,  and  a  few  Indian  guides.  On  the  36th  day  of  their  outing 
they  reached  the  top  of  the  Alleghanies,  and  there  the  mighty  spectacle,  the 
vision  of  a  thousand  years  arose  before  them.  Spotswood  created^  his  men 
Knights  of  the  Golden  Horseshoe,  in  consideration  of  their  part  in  this  expe 
dition,  and  gave  them  each  a  little  golden  charm,  in  the  form  of  a  horseshoe, 
corruscated  with  diamonds.  But,  I  must  tell  you  exactly  how  they  celebrated 
the  discovery  of  what  was  beyond  the  Alleghanies.  This  account  is  taken  from 
the  local  reporter,  of  whom  it  was  not  said  that  he  took  it  down  stenographically, 
but  he  took  it  down  just  as  it  was.  [Merriment.]  "After-wit,  is  everybody's 
wit;"  and  how  witty  I  would  have  been  if  I  had  only  known  it.  [Renewed  mer 
riment.]  I  am  a  little  late  in  getting  into  the  Northwestern  Territory  of  humor, 
for  I  didn't  design  the  double  entendre  against  the  stenographers ;  but  though  I 
come  along  slowly  in  a  white-topped  wagon,  I  will  get  there  all  the  same.  I 
hope  that  the  reporters  will  not  cherish  that  against  me.  I  will  only  say  that  I 
did  not  mean  to  do  it,  and  if  he  will  let  me  off  this  time,  I  won't  do  so  any  more. 
[Laughter.]  But  this  is  the  way  the  reporter  of  those  days  described  the  dis 
covery  of  the  Alleghanies : 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       225 


"  We  got  all  the  men  together  and  loaded  their  arms,  and  we  drank  the  king's 
health  and  fired  a  volley  ;  the  princess'  health  in  Burgundy  and  fired  a  volley ;  and 
all  the  rest  of  the  royal  family  in  claret  and  a  volley.  We  drank  the  governor's 
health  and  fired  another  volley.  We  had  several  sorts  of  liquor,  viz.:  Virginia 
red  wine  and  white  wine,  Irish  usquebaugh,  brandy,  shrub,  two  sorts  of  rum, 
champagne,  canary,  cherry  punch,  cider,  etc.,  etc."  [Laughter  and  applause.] 
What  sort  of  vintage  the  "  et  ceteras"  stand  for  I  am  not  expert  enough  to  tell. 
The  most  remarkable  fact  in  this  history  is  that,  after  all  these  vollies,-  the  party 
got  safely  back  to  Williamsburg  without  losing  a  man.  [Continued  laughter  and 
applause.] 

There  is  one  thing,  however,  that  we  ought  to  congratulate  ourselves  about. 
If  the  king's  health,  and  princess'  health,  and  royal  governor's  health  were  at  all 
proportioned  to  the  intensity  with  which  their  loyal  subjects  drank  them,  I  think 
we  would  all  be  under  monarchs  still.  [Renewed  laughter  and  applause.]  I  might 
have  felt  a  little  delicacy  in  reading  this  story  of  the  early  and  convivial  Virgin 
ians,  but  turning  over  one  of  Gen.  Garfield's  speeches,  I  discovered  their  kinship 
to  our  sober  and  sedate  friends  of  New  England  there. 

So  let  me  read  you  from  Gen.  Cleveland's  journal,  of  how  the  people  from 
the  land  of  steady  habits  celebrated  their  landing  in  the  New  Connecticut  of  the 
Western  Reserve: 

"On  this  creek  (Conneaught)  in  New  Connecticut  land,  July  4,  1796,  under 
Gen.  Moses  Cleveland,  the  surveyors  and  men  sent  by  the  Connecticut  Land  Com 
pany  to  survey  and  settle  the  Connecticut  Reserve,  and  were  the  first  English 
people  who  took  possession  of  it.  And  after  many  difficulties,  perplexities  and 
hardships  were  surmounted,  and  we  were  on  the  good  and  promised  land,  felt 
that  a  just  tribute  of  respect  to  the  day  ought  to  be  paid.  There  were  in  all,  in 
cluding  women  and  children,  fifty  in  number.  The  men,  under  Capt.  Tinker, 
ranged  themselves  on  the  beach  and  fired  a  Federal  salute  of  fifteen  rounds,  and 
then  the  sixteenth  in  honor  of  New  Connecticut.  We  gave  three  cheers,  and 
christened  the  place  Port  Independence,  drank  several  toasts,  closed  with  three 
cheers,  drank  several  pails  of  grog,  supped  and  retired  in  good  order."  [Laughter 
and  applause.] 

Pardon  this  little  digression,  my  countrymen.  We  are  all  so  much  better 
now,  in  these  days,  than  our  ancestors  used  to  be,  that  we  can  afford  to  look  with 
some  forbearance  on  their  frailties  and  their  ancient  amusements.  [Renewed 
laughter  and  applause.] 

We  know  not  who  were  the  first  white  men  to  penetrate  the  region  beyond 
the  Alleghanies.  Neither  do  we  know  who  was  the  first  one  who  crossed  the 
Ohio  River ;  but  we  do  know  that  when  the  first  white  man  paddled  the  canoe 
or  splashed  its  waters,  the  forerunner  of  a  new  regime  had  come  before. 

Christopher  Gist  made  the  first  exploration  into  Ohio  in  1750.  In  1753 
Major  George  Washington  came  out  as  the  representative  of  Robert  Dinwiddie, 
Colonial  Governor  of  Virginia,  vainly  entering  his  protest  against  French  occu 
pation  to  the  French  commandant,  the  Chevalier  de  St.  Pierre,  at  Logstown. 


226  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF   THE 


In  1754,  on  July  3d,  came  the  defeat  of  Washington  and  the  capitulation  of 
his  command  at  Fort  Necessity,  in  the  Great  Meadows — a  bad  beginning  for  the 
young  soldier  who  afterwards  accomplished  so  much.  And  it  elicited  this  sneer 
from  Horace  Walpole:  "The  French  have  tied  up  the  hands  of  an  excellent 
Fanfaron,  a  Major  Washington,  whom  they  took  and  engaged  not  to  serve  one 
year." 

In  1755,  Braddock's  disastrous  expedition  followed.  A  few  more  years  rolled 
around,  and  on  the  25th  of  November,  1759,  under  the  leadership  of  General 
Forbes,  and  with  George  Washington,  leading  his  Virginians,  at  the  head  of  the 
column,  the  Anglo-Americans  marched  into  the  reduced  fortress  of  Fort  Du 
Quesne,  where  Pittsburgh  now  stands.  Its  name  was  changed  to  Fort  Pitt,  three 
months  before  Wolfe  had  triumphed  on  the  heighths  of  Abraham.  The  English 
had  won  the  Northwest. 

Events  now  rush  forward  to  the  great  Revolution.  In  these  movements 
Massachusetts  and  Virginia  led  the  van.  After  the  Boston  massacre  of  1770, 
Revolution  was  in  the  air.  In  December,  1773,  the  Boston  men,  resisting  the  un- 
repealed  tax  on  tea,  disguised  themselves  as  Mohawk  Indians,  and  threw  the  tea- 
chests  into  the  harbor.  The  Boston  Port  Bill  was  passed  by  parliament  as  a  re 
taliatory  measure,  and  on  and  after  June  4,  the  harbor  of  Boston  was  to  be  closed. 
Swift  came  the  news  to  the  Old  Dominion,  and  just  as  swift  was  the  Old  Domin 
ion's  response  to  Boston.  A  general  Congress  was  called  May  27,  1774.  Vir 
ginia  delegates  were  chosen  in  August,  and  George  Washington,  one  of  them, 
addressing  his  constituents  in  Fairfax,  declared  that  "  he  was  ready  to  raise  a 
thousand  men,  subsist  them  at  his  own  expense,  and  march  at  their  head  to  the 
relief  of  Boston." 

The  first  Congress  assembled  at  Philadelphia,  September  5,  1774.  At  its 
opening,  Patrick  Henry  exclaimed,  "  British  oppression  has  effaced  the  boundaries 
of  the  several  colonies.  The  distinctions  between  Virginians,  Pennsylvanians, 
New  Yorkers  and  New  Englanders  are  no  more.  I  am  not  a  Virginian,  but  an 
American."  [Applause.] 

Now,  my  countrymen,  an  incident  well  known  as  a  brilliant  military  exploit, 
occurred,  the  significance  of  which  is  often  overlooked. 

Lord  Dunmore  was  the  Colonial  Governor  of  Virginia.  At  this  time,  as 
you  may  imagine  from  the  speech  which  has  just  been  quoted,  he  was  getting  in 
pretty  hot  water  in  the  old  capital  at  Williamsburg.  Just  about  that  time,  too, 
moving  from  Chillicothe,  the  Shawnee  town,  across  the  Ohio,  came  Cornstalk, 
the  Indian  chief,  with  his  braves,  incensed  by  British  emissaries  and  British  gen 
erals,  to  make  an  attack  upon  your  frontier.  Dunmore  was  between  the  nether 
mill-stones.  He  wanted  to  defend  the  colony  of  Virginia,  but  the  colony  of  Vir 
ginia  was  rising  in  rebellion  behind  him.  He  started  with  two  divisions  from 
the  valley,  but  when  Andrew  Lewis,  commanding  one  of  them,  arrived  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Ohio,  the  noble  Lord  failed  to  put  in  an  appearance.  In  October, 
1774,  when  Cornstalk  crossed  the  Ohio  and  attacked  at  Point  Pleasant,  there  An- 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  227 


drew  Lewis,  with  but  one  of  his  divisions  of  Virginia,  met  and  beat  him  back, 
and  the  noble  Lord  did  not  turn  up  until  a  week  or  two  afterward.  It  was 
believed  that  he  was  in  conspiracy  with  the  Indians,  and  that  he  hoped  that 
Lewis  would  be  overcome,  in  order  that  he  might  break  rebellion's  back  by 
striking  it  in  the  rear. 

Among  the  gallant  young  captains  who  fought  at  Point  Pleasant  under  An 
drew  Lewis  in  that  battle,  was  George  Rogers  Clark.  And  with  him,  I  turn  now 
from  the  splendid  scenes  of  the  Revolution,  that  were  transpiring  along  the  sea 
board  States,  from  Concord  and  Lexington,  from  Kings  Mountain  and  Yorktown, 
to  others  that  were  transpiring  in  the  dark  woods  of  the  Northwest,  which  scarce 
less  aided  the  cause  of  independence,  and  without  which,  in  all  probability,  in 
dependence  would  have  proven  a  "  pent  up  Utica,"  contracted  between  the 
boundaries  of  the  Atlantic  and  the  Ohio.  With  the  events  of  war  along  the 
Atlantic,  nearly  every  school  boy  is  familiar.  But  those  in  the  flank  and  rear  of 
the  struggling  continentals  have  seldom  been  fully  appreciated.  Let  us  enter  the 
wilderness  with  George  Rogers  Clark,  the  most  neglected  of  American  heroes, 
but  scarce  second  to  any  in  martial  prowess  and  achievement. 

George  Rogers  Clark  was  born  in  Albermarle  county,  Virginia,  November 
19,  1752,  almost  within  the  shades  of  Monticello.  In  1775  he  first  visited  Ken 
tucky,  then  a  part  of  Fincastle  county,  Virginia,  and  he  again  visited  it  the  fol 
lowing  year. 

One  day  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  on  the  5th  day  of  July,  1776, 
Patrick  Henry  took  the  oath  of  office  as  Governor  of  Virginia;  and  just  one 
month  before  George  Rogers  Clark  had  been  chosen  at  Harrodsburg  in  popular 
meeting,  to  be  a  member  of  the  Virginia  General  Assembly.  This  was  irregular, 
but  he  repaired  at  once  to  Virginia,  and  waited  on  Governor  Henry.  "  A 
country,"  said  he,  "  not  worth  defending,  is  not  worth  claiming."  And  he  urged 
assistance  for  the  defense  of  Kentucky  and  the  Northwest. 

Clark,  in  floating  down  the  beautiful  river,  had  noticed  the  western  banks, 
and  he  was  a  dreamer  of  great  dreams.  He  came  to  the  old  colonial  capital  at 
Williamsburg,  and  laid  at  once  before  Patrick  Henry,  a  comprehensive  scheme 
for  the  conquest  of  the  Northwest.  He  had  driven  the  Indians  out  of  Kentucky; 
and  he  won  the  name  of  "  Hanibal  of  the  West,"  from  the  courage  and  mastery 
of  his  generalship.  He  might  better  have  been  called  the  Scipio  Africanus ; 
because,  with  the  broad  scope  in  which  both  generalship  and  statesmanship  were 
commingled,  he  saw  that  the  Indian  was  set  on  like  a  hound  by  the  British  gen 
eral,  and  he  said  to  Patrick  Henry,  "You  must  penetrate  the  Northwest,  strike 
the  British  post,  capture  the  British  garrison,  and  establish  your  garrison  there." 

Patrick  Henry  and  the  Virginia  Legislature  supplied  him  with  some  ,£1,200 
in  money,  and  with  less  than  200  men  he  went  down  the  Ohio.  He  made  his 
headquarters  at  its  falls,  then,  without  firing  a  gun  he  sprang  upon  the  British  at 
Kaskaskia  and  captured  them,  and  then  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  British 


228  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


Governor,  Hamilton,  who  was  intrenched  at  Vincennes,  in  what  is  now  Indiana. 
With  these  two  hundred  men,  wading  through  the  swamps  and  the  river  up  to 
their  elbows,  he  appeared  suddenly  before  the  British  garrison. 

And  a  correspondence  ensued  there  between  George  Rogers  Clark  and  the 
British  commander,  which,  if  it  does  not  savor  of  the  courtesy  of  Chesterfield, 
or  the  diplomacy  of  Talleyrand,  has  a  touch  of  vigor  that  might  have  been  im 
parted  by  the  nervous  hand  of  Caesar's.  Clark,  at  the  head  of  his  two  hundred 
men  in  front  of  the  intrenchment,  writes  to  Governor  Hamilton  as  follows : 

"SlR:  In  order  to  save  yourself  from  the  impending  storm  that  now  threat 
ens  you,  I  order  you  immediately  to  surrender  yourself  with  all  your  garrison, 
stores,  etc.,  for  if  I  am  obliged  to  storm,  you  may  depend  on  such  treatment  as  is 
justly  due  to  a  murderer.  Beware  of  destroying  stores  of  any  kind,  or  any  pa 
pers  or  letters  that  are  in  your  possession,  or  hurting  one  house  in  town  ;  for,  by 
Heavens,  if  you  do,  there  shall  be  no  mercy  shown  you." 

Pretty  strong  language  for  a  Virginia  lad  of  twenty-four,  to  be  used  to  the 
representative  of  the  British  empire.  [Laughter  and  applause.] 

Governor  Hamilton  responds :  "Lieutenant-Governor  Hamilton  begs  leave 
to  present  his  compliments  to  Colonel  Clark,  and  to  acquaint  him  with  the  fact 
that  his  garrison  is  not  disposed  to  be  awed  into  any  action  unworthy  a  British 
subject." 

Colonel  Clark  opens  fire  upon  Governor  Hamilton,  and  presently  receives 
from  Governor  Hamilton  the  following :  "  Lieutenant-Governor  Hamilton  pre 
sents  his  compliments  to  Colonel  Clark,  and  asks  a  truce  for  three  days." 

Clark  answers :  "  Colonel  Clark's  compliments  to  Governor  Hamilton,  and 
begs  leave  to  inform  him  that  he  will  not  agree  to  any  terms  other  than  Mr.  Ham 
ilton's  surrendering  himself  and  garrison  prisoners  at  discretion.  If  Mr.  Hamil 
ton  is  desirous  of  a  conference  with  Colonel  Clark,  he  will  meet  him  at  the  church 
with  Captain  Helm." 

Hamilton  came.  The  surrender  took  place.  The  British  garrison  marched 
out  and  was  carried  with  Governor  Hamilton,  as  prisoners  of  war,  to  Williams- 
burg.  The  victory  had  been  won  under  the  command  of  a  young  Virginia  Colonel, 
with  less  than  200  men;  and  there  at  Vincennes,  on  the  24th  of  February,  1779, 
the  British  empire  in  the  Northwest  gave  up  the  ghost,  and  the  stars  and  stripes 
floated  over  the  battlements  where  they  have  floated  for  a  hundred  years,  and 
will,  I  hope,  float  in  peace  forever.  [Applause.] 

There  is  a  postscript  to  this  story,  which  rounds  up  the  claim  of  the  Virginia 
title.  Clark  had  made  reports  of  his  proceedings  to  the  Virginia  authorities,  and 
in  December,  1778,  Virginia  had  organized  the  Northwest  Territory  as  the  county 
of  Illinois.  [Laughter  and  applause.]  I  do  not  know  whether  my  friend  laughed 
because  he  is  glad  to  hear  it,  or  whether  he  laughs  because  he  hopes  it  is  not  so; 
but  laugh  as  you  will,  the  Northwest  Territory  was  not  only  organized  on  paper 
as  the  county  of  Illinois,  but  men  went  there  and  made  good  by  their  strong  arms 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  229 


the  words  that  they  had  written.  The  French  all  over  the  territory  took  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  State  of  Virginia,  and  when  the  Revolutionary  War  was 
ended,  and  the  cessions  of  territory  began  from  New  York  and  Massachusetts, 
and  Connecticut  and  the  other  States,  it  was  universally  and  justly  recognized 
that  Virginia  had  substantiated  her  claim. 

It  was,  indeed,  through  the  Virginia  claim  that  the  United  States  made  good 
her  own,  for  upon  the  conclusion  of  peace  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain  in  1783,  the  representatives  of  the  two  countries  agreed  that  "  the  tree 
should  lie  as  it  had  fallen"  ;  that  is,  that  each  should  remain  in  possession  of  all 
the  territory  it  held  at  the  close  of  the  war.  Under  this  provision  of  the  treaty 
the  American  Commissioners  claimed  the  Northwest  Territory  on  the  ground  of 
its  capture  by  Clark,  and  "  the  possession  of  it  by  the  Americans  at  the  date  of 
the  conference"  for  peace. 

George  Rogers  Clark  was  made  a  Brigadier-General  of  the  United  States 
Army  for  his  services,  and  when  Arnold  in  the  war  invaded  Virginia,  took  tem 
porary  command  under  Steuben,  and  helped  to  resist  him.  He  again  campaigned 
in  the  west  against  the  Indians;  but  time  forbids  that  I  should  follow  his 
footsteps. 

No  monument  to  him  has  been  erected;  no  biography  of  him  has  yet  been 
written,  but  his  merit  is  universally  acknowledged  by  those  who  have  studied  his 
achievements. 

At  Locust  Grove,  near  Louisville,  Kentucky,  he  lies  buried  in  a  neglected 
grave  beneath  a  stone  which  bears  the  initials  "  G.  R.  C."  But  soon  will  the 
monument  rise  over  his  ashes,  for  a  few  days  ago  Senator  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  suc 
cessfully  urged  in  the  Senate  a  bill  to  erect  it,  and  I  was  glad  to  unite — as  indeed 
were  all — in  its  passage. 

That  you  may  not  think  I  am  either  partial  or  excessive  in  my,  claims  for 
Virginia  and  for  George  Rogers  Clark,  let  me  read  you  what  Professor  Hinsdale, 
of  your  own  State — a  ripe  scholar,  imbued  with  a  true  historic  spirit — has  written 
in  his  volume  entitled  "The  Old  Northwest": 

"The  Northwest  has  been  won  by  a  Virginia  army,  commanded  by  a  Vir 
ginia  officer,  put  in  the  field  at  Virginia's  expense. 

"  Governor  Henry  had  promptly  announced  the  conquest  to  the  Virginia 
delegates  in  Congress."  *  *  * 

But  before  Patrick  Henry  wrote  this  letter  Virginia  had  welded  the  last  link 
in  her  chain  of  title  to  the  country  beyond  the  Ohio. 

In  October,  1778,  her  Legislature  declared  "  all  the  citizens  of  the  Common 
wealth  who  are  actual  settlers  there,  or  who  shall  hereafter  be  settled  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Ohio,  shall  be  included  in  the  district  of  Kentucky  which  shall  be 
called  Illinois  county." 

Nor  was  this  all ;  soon  after  Governor  Henry  appointed  a  Lieutenant-Corn- 


230  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


mandant  for  the  new  country,  with   full  instructions  for  carrying  on   the  govern, 
meat. 

The  French  settlements  remained  under  Virginia  jurisdiction  until  Mar  ch 
1784. 

John  Ladd  was  the  recipient  of  Governor  Henry's  appointment  as  Lieuten 
ant-Commander  of  Illinois  county,  and  in  Edwards's  History  of  Illinois,  I  find  a 
literal  copy  of  his  letter  of  appointment,  with  instructions,  dated  at  Williams, 
burg,  Virginia,  December  12,  1778.  In  that  letter  Governor  Henry  says  : 

"  By  virtue  of  the  act  of  the  General  Assembly  which  establishes  the  county 
of  Illinois,  you  are  appointed  County-Lieutenant  there,  and  for  the  general  tenor 
of  your  conduct  I  refer  you  to  the  law." 

He  then  proceeds  to  give  him  many  suggestions  as  to  the  policy  to  be  pur 
sued.  He  is  to  take  care  to  conciliate  the  French  and  the  Indians,  to  pay  partic 
ular  attention  to  Colonel  Clark  and  his  corps,  and  give  the  military  every  aid 
which  circumstances  permit.  He  is  to  take  pains  to  overawe  the  Indians  from 
warring  on  the  settlers  ;  to  respect  Indian  property ;  restrain  the  soldiers  from 
license,  and  tender  friendship  to  the  Spanish  commander  near  Kaskaskia.  "  You 
are  on  all  occasions,"  says  the  Governor,  "  to  inculcate  in  the  people  the  value  of 
liberty  and  the  difference  between  the  state  of  free  citizens  of  this  Commonwealth 
and  that  slavery  to  which  Illinois  was  delivered." 

The  Virginia  government  in  Illinois  county  was  in  no  wise  confined  to  paper 
proclamations. 

Colonel  Ladd,  the  County-Lieutenant,  in  the  spring  of  1795,  visited  the  set 
tlements  at  Vincennes  and  Kaskaskia,  and  organized  temporary  civil  governments 
in  nearly  all  the  settlements  west  of  the  Ohio. 

He  issued  a  proclamation  dated  I5th  June,  1779,  regulating  the  settlement  of 
unoccupied  lands,  and  in  the  same  month  he  organized  at  Vincennes  a  magiste 
rial  court  of  criminal  and  civil  jurisdiction,  presided  over  by  Col.  J.  M.  Legras, 
who  had  been  appointed  commandant  at  Vincennes. 

Following  the  precedents  of  the  French  commandants  in  the  Northwest,  the 
court  granted  land  to  settlers,  and  up  to  1783  had  granted  some  26,000  acres. 
From  that  time  forward,  and  until  forbidden  by  General  Harmar  in  1787,  this 
practice  continued,  and  22,000  more  acres  were  granted. 

President  Hinsdale,  who  has  profoundly  investigated  the  question,  cites  many 
acts  of  sovereignty  exercised  by  Virginia  in  the  Northwest ;  and  to  those  who 
may  wish  to  see  them  enumerated  I  refer  to  his  pages.  I  refer  also  to  the  litiga 
ted  cases  of  Virginia  vs.  Garner,  3  Grattan's  Virginia  Reports,  page  154,  where 
the  whole  matter  was  debated  and  expounded  by  the  judges  of  the  General  Court 
in  1845. 

You  will  also  find  that  the  title  of  Virginia  to  the  Northwest  is  recognized 
by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  the  case  of  Handly  vs.  Anthony, 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  23! 


reported  in  5  Wheaton,  376,  its  unanimous  opinion  being  given  by  Chief  Justice 
Marshall. 

The  conclusion  of  Prof.  Hinsdale  cannot  be  questioned,  that  while  the  treaty 
of  Paris  of  1763  limited  the  colony  on  the  west  of  the  Mississippi,  "  Virginia 
continued  to  fill  up  and  occupy,  both  geographically  and  politically,  the  territory 
to  the  Mississippi,  until  that  signal  act  of  her  sovereignty  over  the  western  terri 
tories  was  exercised  in  the  cession  she  made  of  them  in  March,  1784,  and  which 
was  consummated  by  the  acceptance  of  it  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  as 
sembled  on  the  same  day." 

If  I  have  paused  here  to  go  into  these  old  stories,  it  was  only  because  I  hoped 
that  I  might  show  to  you  and  that  all  of  us  might  realize  that  in  winning  the  in 
dependence  of  this  government,  in  achieving  the  great  territory  that  is  now  its 
possession,  in  framing  the  wise  and  just  and  conservative  laws  which  are  the  in 
heritance  of  each  and  all  of  us,  your  fathers  and  mine,  and  the  faihers  of  all  the 
colonists  did  their  part,  and  left  us  a  benefit  to  be  received  and  enjoyed  in  com 
mon.  [Applause.] 

There  is  one  other  thing  that  should  not  be  forgotten  ;  that  is,  that  there  has 
never  been  but  one  question  before  the  American  people  that  divided  it  in  sec 
tions,  and  that  was  the  question  of  slavery.  Every  other  question  of  difference 
between  us  was  one  that  grew  out  of  it. 

And  now,  in  contemplating  that  subject,  the  rise,  the  fall,  and  the  obliteration 
of  slavery,  and  the  permanent  establishment  of  the  Union,  it  comes  before  my 
mind  like  the  figure  of  some  slender  sapling  into  whose  side  is  driven  a  wedge. 
When  the  war  ended  that  wedge  had  been  withdrawn.  The  sides  of  the  young 
tree  sprang  together,  the  sap  formed  new  bark  around  it,  and  now  it  rises  over  us 
and  for  us  all,  a  stately  oak  which  extends  its  roots  deep  down  into  the  earth  and 
waves  its  leaves  among  the  stars  of  heaven.  [Applause.] 

I  despise  gush  of  every  kind;  I  hate  the  language  of  rhetoric  that  has  not 
behind  it  the  soul  of  honor ;  but  I  feel  that  the  day  is  near  at  hand  when  the 
citizens  of  our  common  country,  whether  born  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  or  the 
James,  and  whether  they  trace  their  lineage  by  way  of  Plymouth  Rock,  or  to  the 
land  that  was  ever  true  to  "  Charley  over  the  water,"  can  look  each  other  in  the 
face  without  sense  that  aught  has  ever  parted  them,  and  talk  the  plain  language 
of  truth.  [Applause.] 

And  feeling  as  I  do,  thinking  as  I  think,  representing  a  constituency  that 
thinks  and  feels  likewise,  I  am  happy  in  the  realization  that  to-day,  as  one  hun 
dred  years  ago,  the  Virginian  crossing  the  Ohio  can  salute  his  brother  here  with 
the  hailing  sign,  I  too,  am  an  American. 

I  have  been  glad  to  come  into  your  midst,  to  shake  your  hand,  to  look  upon 
the  revered  faces  of  the  conscript  fathers  that  hang  upon  your  walls,  and  to  feel 
that  in  the  pursuit  of  the  common  happiness  and  in  defense  of  the  common  lib 
erty,  Americans  everywhere  are  one,  ready  to  give  our  country  every  pledge  of 


232  *$y$3®$T    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


our  affections,  and  if  need  be  to  take  her  flag  in  our  hands,  carry  it  high  and  die 
under  its  folds.     [Great  applause.] 

Lieut -Gov.  Lyon  :     The  exercises  of  the  afternoon  will  be 
concluded  with  music  by  the  Elgin  Band. 

After  music  by  the  Elgin  Band  the  audience  dispersed. 


THURSDA  Y,  JUL  Y  19,   1888. 


Programme, 


OHIO  DAY  AT  CENTENNIAL  HALL. 

10  A.  M Music  by  Elgin  Band. 

Gov.  J.  B.  Foraker,  presiding. 
MUSIC. 

POEM— "The  Northwest  Territory,  1788-1888" Col.  W.  A.  Taylor. 

ADDRESS Senator  John  Sherman. 

MUSIC. 

ADDRESS Gen.  C.  H.  Grosvenor. 

MUSIC. 


AFTERNOON— 2   O'CLOCK. 


Short  addresses  by  the  following  distinguished  citizens  of  Ohio :  Ex-Gov 
ernor  Charles  Foster,  Hon.  D.  K.  Watson,  Attorney-General ;  Hon.  John  C.  Lee, 
ex-Lieutenant-Governor ;  Hon.  Joseph  S.  Robinson,  Secretary  of  State;  Gen.  W. 
H.  Gibson. 

MUSIC. 


\V 

NATIONAL   CENTENNIAL 


EVENING—  8  O'CLOCK. 


GRAND  CONCERT  BY  ELGIN  BAND. 

At  the  close  of  the  concert  there  will  be  a  grand  display  of  fire-works  on  the 
Muskingum  River. 

There  will  be  a  dress  parade  of  the  military  held  on  Front  street,  near  the 
Centennial  Hall,  at  7  P.  M.,  sharp. 

Tickets  for  concert  for  sale  at  Centennial  Building,  Relic  Department, 
Armory,  Putnam  street  ;  U.  S.  Government  exhibit  at  City  Hall. 


MORNING  SESSION— Thursday,  July  19—10-4.  M. 


MUSIC. 

Gov.  Foraker :  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  we  are  nearing  the 
close  of  this  Celebration.  We  have  had  Indiana  Day,  and  Illi 
nois  Day,  and  Michigan  Day,  and  Wisconsin  Day,  and  Massa 
chusetts  Day,  and  New  York  Day,  and  Virginia  Day,  and  now 
we  are  going  to  have  an  Ohio  Day.  [Applause.] 

All  these  other  States  have  been  represented  here  so 
worthily,  so  successfully,  so  grandly,  that  I  know  you  will  all 
regard  it  as  matter  subject  to  congratulation,  that  we  have  on 
this  platform  so  many  of  the  distinguished  sons  of  Ohio  as  we 
have  to  speak  in  her  behalf.  Because  of  the  number  of  them, 
coupled  with  other  considerations  which  I  might  mention,  there 
is  every  reason  why  I  should  not  detain  you  with  any  remarks. 
I  therefore,  at  once  inaugurate  the  exercises  provided  for  the 
day,  by  introducing  to  you  Col.  WT.  A.  Taylor,  who  will  read  a 
poem  entitled:  "  The  Northwest  Territory,  1788-1888." 

Col.  W.  A.  Taylor  stepped  to  the  platform  and  read  the 
following  poem  : 


234  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


CHANSON. 


THE  NORTHWEST  TERRIT OR Y— 1788-1888. 


ERE  Freedom  young  and  brave  and  strong 

Unfurled  her  banner,  set  her  feet 
Upon  the  virgin  soil,  and  turned 
The  Star  of  Destiny  to  greet. 

Her's  was  an  empire  reaching  out 

Unto  the  doorways  of  the  night 
Where  darkness  brooded ;  in  her  hand 

She  bore  the  torch  of  Truth  and  Right. 

Before  her  lay  the  unconquered  waste, 

Behind  her,  smiling  by  the  sea, 
Her  virgin  mother,  proud  and  chaste, 

Chanted  the  hymn  of  Liberty. 

A  song  of  triumph  ringing  through 

The  solemn  pines,  the  mountain  pass, 

Until  the  future  came  and  shone 
As  shines  a  picture  in  the  glass. 

Here  Progress  took  the  form  of  Law, 

Here  Government  arose  and  led 
The  onward  march  by  hill  and  plain, 

And  oft  the  road  was  rough  and  red. 

But  harvests  blossomed  from  the  graves 
Where  e'er  the  echoing  bugle  blew — 

Each  was  a  king,  no  cringing  slave 

Marched  where  proud  Freedom's  banner  flew. 

• 
Here  Freedom's  sacred  muniments 

Were  dedicated  to  mankind, 
Here  Sword  and  Balance,  Peace  and  War, 

Were  in  a  common  mission  joined. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  235 


Faith  saw  beyond  the  horizon's  rim 
A  newer  nation  rising  strong  — 
The  battle  and  the  harvest  hymn 

blended  in  the  prophet'sjsong. 


There  shone  a  promise  in  the  sky, 

Sweet  sang  the  summer  winds  that  broke 

Into  the  river's  lullaby, 

And  stirred  the  acer  and  the  oak. 

The  strokes  of  Labor,  true  and^strong, 

From  hill  and  valley,  wood^and]brake, 

Were  but  the  words  of  prophecy 

Through  which  the  mighty'angel  spake. 

Beneath  our  feet  dead  empires^lie, 

Above  us  shines  the  newer  star  ; 
Here  some  proud  Memphis  mocked  the  sky, 

Then  broke  upon  the  crest  of  war. 

O  genial  soil,  with  life  instinct, 

Whence  warriors  sprang  and  statesmen  grew, 
You  gave  their  blood  the  imperial  tinct 

That  shines  the  whole  world  through  andjhrough. 

Here  opened  out  a  splendid  page, 

Here  grew  a  grander  race  of  men 
Than  any  since  the  Golden  Age, 

Great  with  the  sword,  the  plow,  the  pen. 

Fresh  from  the  Revolution's  fire 

They  came  to  hew  the  empire's  way 
Through  trackless  wastes,  and  to  inspire 

The  sunlight  of  young  Freedom's  day. 

"  With  Truth's  keen  scythe  they'd  cut  a  swath 
Through  Wrong  and  Falsehood  to  Reform  ;  " 

We  reap  the  glorious  aftermath, 

Free  from  the  pelting  of  the  storm. 


236  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


Here  fell  the  civic  seed  which  grew 

To  blade  and  sheaf,  and  spreading  far 

Fed  all  the  hungry  pilgrims  through 
Long  periods  of  waste  and  war. 

Here  rose  an  empire,  here  the  march 

Of  civil  government  began  ; 
Here  Law  put  on  the  robe  of  Power, 

And  Might  became  the  friend  of  Man. 

And  going  hence,  with  hands  outspread, 
One  on  the  plow,  one  on  the  hilt — 

The  new  born  standing  for  the  dead — 
An  hundred  splendid  cities  built. 

They  grew  to  sovereigns  proud  and  fair, 
From  out  this  garden,  now  behold 

They  come  long  lines  of  pilgrims  here 

Where  Freedom  timed  their  march  of  old. 


They  come  five  queens,  proud  sisterhood, 
"With  teeming  millions  all  elate  ; 

Five  States  with  common  hopes  and  blood, 
Part  of  one  great  and  perfect  State. 

Here  to  this  shrine,  where  Freedom  sat 
Her  banner  in  red  Danger's  van, 

And  smote  the  wilderness  and  cried : 

"  Make  way  before  the  march  of  man." 

They  come  when  full  the  century  rounds. 

Proud  pilgrims  offering  up  their  deeds 
Upon  the  altar,  trumpet  sounds 

Proclaim  that :     "  Virtue  still  succeeds.' 

They  come  from  fields  whose  summer  glow 
Like  yellow  Ormus  shames  the  sun; 

From  purple  meadows  bending  low 

When  east  the  fragrant  Zephyrs  run; 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  237 


From  cities  where  long  flags  of  fire 

Flash  in  the  sky  from  dark  to  dawn, 

Where  o'er  the  endless  lines  of  steel 
The  modern  Cyclops  rushes  on  ; 

From  lakes  whose  waters  cold  and  clear 
Reflect  the  stars  in  heaven's  dome ; 

From  rivers  singing  like  a  seer 

Of  mightier  triumphs  yet  to  come. 


Gov.  Foraker :  One  of  the  grandest  products  of  our  Ohio 
Civilization  has  been  our  great  men.  Ohio  is  famous  the  world 
over  on  that  account.  [Applause.] 

We  feel  ourselves  especially  honored  in  having  present 
with  us  this  morning  to  address  us,  one  of  the  greatest  of  all 
the  great  men  that  this  Commonwealth  has  produced.  [Great 
applause.]  One  who  has  for  thirty  years  been  distinguished 
by  his  public  services  the  Nation  over,  and  who,  during  all  that 
time,  has  guided  himself  with  such  fidelity,  and  has  labored 
with  such  efficiency  that  he  has  commanded  the  confidence  of 
our  whole  people  without  regard  to  whether  they  agreed  with 
him  politically  or  not.  [Applause.] 

It  is  therefore  with  uncommon  pleasure  that  I  now  have 
the  honor  of  introducing  to  you  as  the  next  speaker,  Ohio's 
illustrious  Senator,  Honorable  John  Sherman.  [Applause.] 


238  REPORT    OF  THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

Address  of  Senator  JoKr\  5Kerrr\ar\ 

AT  MARIETTA,  OHIO. 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  The  very  flattering  manner  in  which  our  Gov 
ernor  has  introduced  me  to  you  disturbs  the  serenity  of  my  thoughts,  for  I  know 
that  the  high  panegyric  that  he  gives  to  me  is  scarcely  justified  of  mortal  man. 
All  of  us  have  faults  ;  all  of  us  have  failings  ;  and  none  can  claim  more  than  the 
fair  and  common  average  of  honest  purposes  and  noble  aims. 

I  come  to-day  as  a  gleaner  of  a  well-reaped  field  by  skillful  workmen,  who 
have  left  no  handfuls  for  me  to  gather,  but  have  garnered  the  crop  and  placed  it 
in  stacks  so  high  that  I  cannot  steal  a  sheaf  without  being  detected.  [Laughter.] 
I  cannot  utter  a  thought  without  having  it  said  that  I  copied  it  from  some  one 
else.  I  thank  fortune  that  I  have  no  prepared  speech — nothing  ready-made,  for 
if  I  had,  the  better  part  of  my  speech  would  have  been  read  or  spoken  by  those 
who  have  preceded  me,  in  more  eloquent  terms.  I  can  only  bring  here  and  there 
a  thought,  an  idea,  inspired  by  the  great  history  that  we  are  called  upon  to  re 
view — the  wonderful  events  of  one  hundred  years  since  the  birth  of  this  great 
Northwestern  Territory.  [Applause.] 

What  a  theme  it  is !  Why  is  it  that  this  favored  region  of  260,000  square 
miles,  or  about  160,000,090  acres  of  land,  has  been  selected  as  the  place  where 
the  most  rapid  migration  of  the  human  race  has  occurred  in  the  history  of  the 
world  ?  There  is  no  part  of  this  world  of  ours  of  the  size  of  the  Northwestern 
Territory  where,  within  one  hundred  years,  fifteen  millions  of  free  and  intelligent 
people  have  been  planted,  and  where,  at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  there  was 
scarcely  a  white  man  living.  This  whole  region  was  then  sparsely  peopled  by 
savage  tribes  of  men,  and  roamed  over  by  savage  beasts  of  the  forest.  This  is 
the  great  theme  that  I  have  to  present  to  you  in  common  with  those  that  have 
gone  before  me.  I  am  glad  that  it  has  been  presented  by  such  eminent  men  as 
Senators  Hoar,  Evarts  and  Daniels,  by  General  Ewing,  Mr.  Randolph  Tucker, 
Governor  Foraker,  and  many  others,  among  the  most  distinguished  orators  of  our 
day  and  generation. 

And  remember,  citizens  of  Marietta,  when  I  speak  of  this  Centennial  Exhi 
bition,  I  do  not  mean  that  of  the  I5th  of  July,  only,  but  of  the  7th  of  April  and 
the  1 5th  of  July,  bound  together  in  a  noble  wedlock.  The  time  is  not  far  distant 
when  the  orations  of  these  two  occasions  will  be  printed  side  by  side  together, 
and  it  will  not  be  remembered  that  there  was  any  difference  as  to  which  day  was 
most  worthy  to  be  celebrated,  when  both  days  were  worthy  of  celebration.  [Ap 
plause.] 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       239 


Brooklyn  and  New  York  once  had  a  great  rivalry  with  each  other,  on  oppo 
site  sides  of  the  East  River,  and  a  New  Yorker  would  scarcely  recognize  a  Brook 
lyn  man  as  a  citizen  of  the  metropolis.  But  as  they  both  grew  into  such  magni 
tude  and  threw  over  the  chasm  a  magnificent  bridge,  they  become  reconciled  to 
each  other ;  and  now  the  united  cities  are  proudly  recognized  as  the  Imperial 
city  of  the  two  continents. 

And  so  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  were  two  rival  cities,  who  so  contested  for 
supremacy  with  each  other,  that  in  one  they  counted  prospective  births  as  among 
the  present  inhabitants  [laughter],  and  enrolled  as  a  citizen  every  passing  traveler, 
while  in  the  other  they  counted  the  gravestones  as  among  the  living  inhabitants  • 
and  between  them  they  stretched  their  boundaries  so  far  and  wide  towards  each 
other  that  they  are  growing  into  each  other,  and  in  a  little  while  they  will  be  the 
Siamese  twins  of  America.  / 

And  so  with  your  celebrations.  I  speak  of  them  as  but  one  ;  two  streams 
that  in  a  little  while  mingle  together.  The  eloquence  and  words  of  honor  and 
glory  and  renown  that  have  been  spoken  upon  this  occasion  all  relate  to  the  event 
you  are  celebrating,  and  no  man  will  ever  think  of  considering  on  what  particu 
lar  day  it  commenced.  % 

Now,  my  countrymen,  where  shall  I  begin?  I  promised  you  not  to  invade 
the  ground  that  has  been  occupied  by  others,  but  only  to  present  some  old  idea 
in  a  new  form.  The  great  lawyers  who  have  spoken  to  you  had  a  good  deal  to 
say  about  the  title  of  the  United  States  to  the  Northwest,  and  my  friend  from 
Virginia  says  Virginia  ceded  it,  and  George  Rogers  Clark  won  it.  And  I  will 
more  than  make  good  that  assertion  in  a  moment. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Senator  from  New  York  said  that  New  York  was  the 
first  to  cede  the  Northwest  Territory  to  the  Union.  And  the  Yankees  of  Connec 
ticut,  the  stock  from  which  I  came,  claim  that  they  ceded  their  title  to  the  North 
west  ;  and  so  with  other  States. 

But,  my  countrymen,  none  of  them  had  any  title  to  the  Northwest  to  cede. 
[Laughter.]  There  was  no  title  in  either  of  the  old  colonies  or  states  when  this 
settlement  was  commenced — no  title  that  could  be  defended  by  the  moral  law, 
except  that  title  which  Almighty  God  had  given  to  the  Indian  tribes  of  America. 
[Applause.]  They  owned  it,  and  possessed  it,  and  had  it  for  generations. 

On  what  principle  of  law  or  ethics  did  King  James  attempt  to  transfer  to 
colonies  on  the  Atlantic  coast  the  whole  extent  of  the  broad  territory  across  the 
continent  when  he  did  not  know  there  was  a  continent  there  ?  The  grant  to 
Connecticut  read  something  like  in  this  wise  :  "  And  along  the  forty-first  paral. 
lei  of  latitude,  northwardly  and  westwardly,  to  the  Indian  Ocean."  Where,  in 
the  name  of  Heaven,  was  the  Indian  Ocean  ?  It  was  thought  then  that  it  was 
about  where  the  Mississippi  River  is.  Everybody  in  those  times  dreamed  that 
they  would  find  some  passage  way  by  water  through  the  continent  to  the  Indian 

16  C.  B. 


240  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF     THE 


Ocean.  Their  idea  of  the  geography  of  the  country  was  about  as  faint  as  yours 
and  mine  of  the  Congo  country  newly  discovered  to  civilization.  They  did  not 
know  anything  about  it.  And  yet  the  title  of  Virginia,  Connecticut  and  New 
York,  and  all  the  older  states,  were  founded  upon  grants  by  King  James,  or  his 
successors,  of  a  country  that  he  did  not  and  could  not  know  anything  about. 
The  only  plausible  title  of  Great  Britain  to  the  Northwest  territory  at  the  time 
of  the  Revolution  was  the  treaty  of  peace  with  France,  by  which  Canada  and  its 
dependencies  were  ceded  to  Great  Britain.  And  it  was  this  title  that  was  won 
by  Virginia,  and  which,  according  to  the  common  law  of  England  and  the  habits 
of  civilized  nations,  was  considered  a  good  title ;  and  that  was,  the  title  of  con- 
•quest.  [Applause.]  Say  what  we  will — say  what  we  will,  it  has  been  the  law  of 
creation  from  the  beginning  to  this  hour,  that  might  makes  right ;  who  takes, 
holds,  until  somebody  else  can  take  it  from  him.  And  that  is  the  law  upon 
which  all  human  dominion  rests.  We  may  reason  as  we  please  about  it.  It  is 
power  that  makes  right,  and  there  is  no  other  source  but  power.  King  James 
had  no  covenant  from  the  Almighty  to  grant  to  Virginia,  New  York  or  Con 
necticut  the  western  country  until  he  possessed  it ;  but  by  the  usages  of  civilized 
nations  any  one  of  them  had  the  right  to  come  and  take  it,  if  they  could,  from 
the  uncivilized  tribes  who,  by  the  law  of  might,  could  be  dispossessed  at  pleasure 
and  driven  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  as  they  have  been. 

Therefore  it  was,  when  this  Northwestern  Territory  was  first  opened  to  civ 
ilization,  the  only  valid  title  that  was  won  by  George  Rogers  Clark,  who  con 
quered  this  country  from  Great  Britain.  It  was  not  Virginia  that  did  it  ;  she 
gave  birth  to  Clark,  but  contributed  but  little  to  his  achievements,  although  he 
was  a  great  Virginian,  and  among  the  illustrious  names  that  have  been  furnished 
.by  that  magnificent  State  to  the  history  of  our  country  there  is  no  one  among 
them  all  who  will  have  a  greater  or  a  more  poetic  renown  than  George  Rogers 
-Clark.  [Applause.] 

He,  with  two  or  three  hundred  Kentuckians,  for  whose  equipment  he  had 
raised  the  money  which  he  borrowed  upon  his  own  credit,  made  that  magnificent 
march  described  to  you  by  Senator  Daniel  yesterday,  and  he,  with  his  brave 
Kentuckians,  overthrew  the  British  power  in  the  Northwest  by  capturing  the 
British  posts,  and  taking  the  British  Governor  prisoner  of  war. 

Virginia  is  entitled  to  the  honor  of  being  his  birthplace,  and  Patrick  Henry, 
the  great  orator  of  the  Revolution,  and  who,  as  Governor  of  Virginia,  gave  him 
his  commission  and  his  authority,  is  entitled  to  high  credit,  but  it  was  George 
Rogers  Clark  who  gave  us  a  title  to  this  country. 

So  strong  was  this  title  by  conquest,  my  countrymen,  that  when  the  treaty 
of  peace  was  being  framed  in  Paris  in  1782,  it  was  the  acknowledged  basis  of  our 
claim  to  the  Northwest  Territory.  The  British  Government  contended  that  the 
line  between  the  United  States  and  the  British  possessions  should  be  drawn  along 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  24! 


the  Ohio  River  and  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  On  the  other  hand,  our  great 
negotiators,  Franklin,  Adams  and  others,  claimed  that  the  proper  line  of  division 
was  through  the  lakes.  "  Why,"  said  the  Englishman,  "  didn't  we  acquire  that 
country  only  a  few  years  ago  from  France  ?  Was  it  not  ceded  to  us  from  France 
who  held  it  for  more  than  a  hundred  years  ?  You  have  no  inhabitants  there. 
You  have  no  settlers  there."  They  insisted  that  the  discovery  of  the  Mississippi 
and  the  occupation  of  the  Territory,  according  to  the  law  of  Nations,  gave  the 
French  the  control  of  all  the  land  to  the  headwaters  of  that  stream,  and  Great 
Britain  had  purchased  from  the  French,  and  therefore  the  colonies  had  no  claim 
to  the  region  north  and  west  of  the  Ohio  River,  including  all  west  of  the  Alle 
ghany  Mountains.  How  was  that  claim  met  ?  Could  the  United  States  claim 
they  had  occupied  that  country  ?  Could  the  United  States  depend  upon  grants 
by  King  James  nearly  two  centuries  before,  never  reduced  to  possession?  No 
such  claim  was  made.  But  our  plenipotentiaries  did  say  that  "  General  George 
Rogers  Clark  won  the  Northwest  Territory  from  you  just  as  you  won  it  from  the 
French,  and  as  the  French  won  it  from  Spain.  George  Rogers  Clark  captured 
every  British  soldier  in  all  that  region,  and  therefore  it  is  ours,  and  we  intend  to 
hold  it."  j;Applause.] 

This  was  our  title.  But,  my  countrymen,  that  title  was  an  imperfect  title. 
It  was  not  a  right  of  possession,  but  only  a  right  of  pre-emption,  as  it  is  called, 
the  right  to  sovereignty  over  a  newly  discovered  Territory  occupied  by  savage 
tribes  of  men,  yet  it  was  admitted  on  all  hands  that  the  Indian  title  was  the  title 
to  possession,  and  that  Indians  could  not  be  dispossessed  except  by  agreement — 
that  possession  could  not  be  taken  by  force  with  justice  and  propriety  without 
compensation.  And  among  the  noblest  provisions  of  the  immortal  Ordinance  of 
1787,  is  one  declaring  the  rights  of  the  Indians  to  the  possession  of  their  Terri 
tory,  and  that  no  part  of  it  must  be  taken  from  them  except  by  their  consent. 
The  title  of  the  Indians  was  there.  How  was  that  to  be  acquired  ?  This  was 
the  most  difficult  problem  that  faced  the  early  settler  of  Ohio. 

The  first  treaty  made  in  reference  to  the  Indian  title  in  the  Northwest,  was 
at  Fort  Mclntosh,  somewhere  on  the  Upper  Ohio,  on  the  2ist  of  January,  1785. 
The  most  important  treaty,  securing  the  United  States  possession  of  Indian  lands 
and  defining  the  boundaries,  was  the  one  signed  here  at  Fort  Harmar  on  the  9th 
of  January,  1789,  the  year  after  the  first  settlers  came  here.  The  boundary  line 
commenced  at  the  Cuyahoga  River,  where  the  city  of  Cleveland  now  is,  followed 
up  that  river  to  the  portage  to  the  Tuscarawas  branch  of  the  Muskingum,  thence 
down  that  branch  to  Fort  Lawrence,  thence  westwardly  to  the  headwaters  of  the 
Big  Miami. 

The  Indians,  however,  always  claimed  that  they  were  cheated  in  this  treaty, 
that  their  tribes  were  not  represented ;  that  their  land  was  sold  without  authority 
and  for  a  trifling  consideration,  and  therefore,  from  the  beginning  of  the  settle 
ment  at  Marietta  there  were  fights  with  the  Indians,  and  a  predatory  warfare. 


242  REPORT   OF  THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


We,  of  this  generation,  know  what  war  means,  but  it  was  war  between  organized 
armies  restrained  by  civilization,  but  the  Indian  wars  in  which  our  fathers  were 
involved,  were  fights  with  savages,  with  all  the  incidents  of  the  most  cruel  and 
barbarous  warfare,  with  scalping  knife  and  torch,  in  which  women  and  children, 
old  and  young,  were  the  victims.  From  the  first  settlement  here  until  the  close 
of  the  war  of  1812,  some  part  of  the  Northwest  Territory  was  the  scene  of  this 
warfare.  During  the  early  settlement  it  was  an  equal  contest  between  the  Indians 
and  the  white  men.  The  first  two  expeditions  under  General  Harmar  in  1790 
and  Governor  St.  Clair,  1791,  were  defeated,  driven  back,  and  all  the  settlements 
north  of  the  Ohio  were  subject  to  Indian  forays,  which  entered  into  the  local 
history  of  every  county  in  Southern  Ohio. 

In  organized  wars,  the  Indians  were  always  supported  by  the  British,  who, 
in  spite  of  the  treaty  of  peace,  held  on  to  Detroit  and  other  fortified  posts  in  our 
country.  I  am  sorry  to  say  the  British  were  always  at  the  back  of  all  the 
devilish  movements  that  ever  occurred  in  the  history  of  our  country.  [Applause.] 
I  do  not  know  why  it  should  be  so,  but  it  has  so  happened.  Ever  since  our  Revo 
lutionary  days,  the  Indians,  incited  by  the  British,  constantly  kept  up  war ; 
English  officers  aided  in  the  defeat  of  Harmar  and  St.  Clair.  Then^t  was  that 
the  United  States  seriously  undertook  to  drive  both  Indians  and  British  from 
Ohio.  An  expedition,  under  General  Wayne,  was  organized  at  Cincinnati  during 
the  fall  and  winter  of  1792-3,  with  great  care  to  avoid  the  errors  of  the  past, 
but  it  was  hoped  that  a  desperate  and  destructive  war  could  be  avoided  by  nego 
tiation.  General  Washington  sent  commissioners,  gentlemen  of  the  highest 
character,  to  Sandusky,  at  the  head  of  the  Lakes,  where  all  the  tribes  were  con 
vened  together  in  the  summer  of  1793,  to  make  a  treaty.  An  interesting  ac 
count  of  this  famous  conference  has  been  preserved  by  Judge  Burnet,  in  his  notes 
on  the  Northwest  Territory,  but  I  can  only  give  you  a  faint  outline. 

They  exchanged  talk,  but  it  seems  to  me  the  Indians  got  the  best  of  the  talk 
all  the  way  through.  [Laughter.]  They  insisted  from  the  beginning  to  the  end 
upon  the  Ohio  River  as  the  line  between  the  Indians  and  the  white  men. 

They  opened  their  wampum-belts  and  exchanged  cards  with  each  other,  as 
we  would  say.  They  went  through  the  forms  of  Indian  ceremony,  and  smoked 
the  pipe  of  peace,  and  then  covered  the  fire  over  night  to  keep  it  ready  to  blaze 
up  in  the  morning.  They  made  speeches  to  each  other,  calling  each  other  "  Bro. 
ther,"  with  war  in  their  hearts,  no  doubt,  like  many  other  more  civilized  negotia 
tors.  But  finally  they  got  down  to  a  square  talk,  and  then  it  was  that  our  com 
missioners  said  that  what  they  wanted  was  a  little  more  land  for  some  poor  white 
people-living  down  at  Cincinnati,  at  Marietta,  and  at  other  places. 

The  talk  was  that  the  settlers  were  all  poor,  and  -they  must  have  something 
to  feed  their  wives  and  their  children ;  a  little  land  to  raise  corn,  and  a  little 
hunting  ground  where  they  might  get  game ;  that  the  Great  Father  lored  the 
red  man — had  sent  them  there  to  treat  with  their  brethren,  and  that  he  had  au- 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       243 


thorized  them  to  make  the  most  bounteous  offer  ever  made  to  the  Indian  tribes 
since  the  settlement  of  the  country. 

They  said :  "  We  will  give  you  $50,000  in  specie  down,  and  we  will  give  you 
$50,000  a  year  for  twenty  years.  We  will  give  you  so  many  strings  of  wampum, 
so  many  blankets,  and  so  many  beads  and  ornaments,''  which  the  Indians  prized, 
and  so  went  on  with  the  most  bounteous  and  tempting  offers  that  could  be  made 
to  touch  the  avarice  or  the  heart  of  the  untutored  savage. 

The  Indians  said  that  was  a  very  good  speech,  but  wanted  to  think  of  it  over 
night,  and  said  that  perhaps  the  Great  Spirit  would  reveal  to  them  some  way  in 
which  they  could  get  out  of  the  difficulty,  and  have  war  no  more  between  the 
white  and  the  red  man.  The  next  day  they  came  back  into  camp ;  the  council 
was  opened  again,  and  the  Indian  made  his  reply.  And  what  was  it  ?  His  eyes 
brightened,  and  he  said  the  Great  Spirit  had  revealed  to  him  a  way  in  which  all 
their  troubles  could  be  ended.  "  You  say  these  people  down  along  the  Ohio 
River  are  poor — who  came  there  to  get  a  living,  and  only  want  a  little  corn  and 
bread,  and  a  little  game.  Now,  the  Great  Spirit  tells  me  that  this  land  is  our 
land,  where  our  ancestors  have  lived,  and  where  we  have  lived  in  peace  and 
plenty.  It  is  the  land  of  the  red  brother.  The  Great  Spirit  also  tells  us  if  you 
will  go  and  give  to  these  poor  white  people  at  Marietta  and  Cincinnati  the  money 
and  the  wampum  and  the  blankets,  and  all  these  things  you  have  offered  to  us, 
and  let  them  go  back  whence  they  came,  they  will  be  rich  and  happy."  [Laugh 
ter  and  applause.] 

The  fires  were  closed  up  that  night,  and  no  answer  was  made  to  this  speech ; 
but  the  hand  of  fate  was  upon  that  race.  Civilization  has  never  stopped  for  bar 
barous  tribes.  They  must  give  way.  It  is  one  of  the  harsh  and  immutable  laws 
of  nature,  that  when  one  race  of  men  advance  one  degree  beyond  tke  other,  the 
weaker  must  give  way  to  the  stronger ;  and  so  the  Indian,  though  brave  and  nu 
merous,  once  possessor  of  a  continent,  has,  step  by  step,  receded  before  our  race, 
into  the  grave  of  his  fathers,  and  like  the  buffalo  become  an  almost  extinct 
species.  The  talk  was  over.  General  Wayne  was  relieved  from  the  curb  by 
which  he  was  held.  He  marched  his  gallant  volunteers  into  the  Indian  country, 
defeated  them  and  their  allies,  and  then,  by  the  treaty  of  Greenville,  confirmed 
the  white  man's  possession  to  all  southern  Ohio,  as  defined  by  the  treaty  of  Fort 
Harmar. 

The  Indian  had  to  go.  He  yielded  the  beautiful  river,  but  sullenly  struggled 
all  the  way  westward  across  the  Northwest  Territory,  and  now,  at  last,  is  cooped 
up  in  reservations  on  the  plains  of  the  West  My  countrymen,  I  do  not  know 
but  what  if  we  could  judge  these  great  struggles  between  race  and  nations  by 
the  law  of  divine  justice,  every  attribute  of  the  Almighty  would  seem  to  have 
been  on  the  side  of  the  Indian.  And  yet,  that  is  not  the  law  of  civilization.  No 
one  then  dreamed  of  extending  the  settlements  beyond  the  bounds  fixed  by  the 
treaty  of  Greenville.  Southern  Ohio  was  the  only  settlement  then  open,  but  step 


244  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


by  step,  by  treaty  and  by"  war,  the  settlements  pressed  westward  and  northward, 
though  near  three-fourths  of  a  century  was  required  to  extinguish  the  Indian 
title  to  the  Northwest  Territory. 

But  I  said  awhile  ago,  I  intended  to  emphasize  the  title  acquired  through 
George  Rogers  Clark,  and  the  sad  fate  of  ingratitude  that  fell  upon  him.  It  is 
eloquently  described  by  Judge  Burnet,  in  narrating  a  visit  he  made  in  Kentucky 
to  Geoige  Rogers  Clark.  He  found  him  poor,  broken  in  spirit,  his  private  prop 
erty  sold  for  supplies  furnished  to  the  very  troops  that  won  this  territory.  He 
was  a- pauper  and  a  bankrupt,  depending  upon  his  brother's  bounty,  with  large 
claims  against  the  United  States  and  against  Virginia  which  they  were  unable  to 
pay,  and  in  the  condition  of  many  another  soldier  of  the  Revolutionary  War, 
reduced  to  the  direst  straits.  Then  it  was  that  Virginia  sent  him  a  sword,  and 
the  incident  occurred,  narrated  by  Senator  Daniel,  the  other  day  in  the  Senate. 

Virginia  sent  him  a  sword.  He  replied  :  "  When  my  country  was  in  danger 
I  furnished  her  a  sword ;  and  now,  when  she  is  in  peace  and  plenty,  and  I  want 
bread,  she  gives  me  a  sword.  What  will  I  do  with  it  ?"  And  that  man  died  in 
poverty  and  want,  though  he  won  this  whole  Northwestern  country,  now  worth 
billions  of  money.  My  countrymen,  there  ought  to  be  a  feeling  of  gratitude  to 
a  hero  like  Clark  that  would  cover  his  grave  with  monuments,  and  preserve  his 
memory  in  story  and  song.  I  thank  God  that  the  other  day,  under  an  inspiration 
of  the  events  that  are  transpiring  here  at  Marietta,  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  on  my  motion,  made  provision  for  a  monument  over  the  grave  of  George 
Rogers  Clark.  [Applause.] 

Now,  I  will  read  you  an  extract  to  show  you  the  importance  of  this  achieve 
ment: 

"The  fact  is  well  known,  that  in  arranging  the  articles  of  the  treaty  of  peace, 
at  Paris,  the  British  Commissioners  insisted  on  the  Ohio  River  as  part  of  the 
northern  boundary  of  the  United  States  ;  and  that  the  Count  de  Vergennes  fav 
ored  that  claim.  It  appears,  also,  from  the  diplomatic  correspondence  on  that 
subject,  that  the  only  tenable  ground  on  which  the  American  Commissioners 
relied  to  sustain  their  claim  to  the  Lakes,  as  the  boundary,  was  the  fact  that 
General  Clark  had  conquered  the  country,  and  was  in  the  undisputed  military 
possession  of  it  at  the  time  of  the  negotiation.  That  fact  was  affirmed  and  ad 
mitted,  and  was  the  chief  ground  on  which  the  British  Commissioners  reluctantly 
abandoned  their  claim." 

Suppose  that  immortal  march  had  not  occurred,  and  the  lines  between  the 
United  States  and  Canada  had  been  drawn  along  the  Ohio  River,  what  would 
have  been  the  condition  of  our  country  without  this  magnificent  territory?  No 
man  can  conceive.  No,  thank  God,  we  do  not  fear  British  power,  because  in  the 
possession  of  this  Northwestern  Territory  we  have  the  key  to  the  heart  of  the 
continent,  and  all  the  powers  of  the  world  combined  cannot  drive  us  from  this 
chosen  land  of  plenty  and  of  peace.  [Applause.] 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       245 


Now,  there  is  another  idea  I  want  to  express  before  I  get  through.  I  said 
that  the  migration  to  this  Northwestern  Territory  was  the  most  remarkable  in 
history ;  not  only  in  its  manner,  but  in  the  quality  of  the  men  and  women  who 
composed  it. 

Every  one  of  the  old  States  furnished  its  contribution  to  the  settlement  of 
Ohio.  Some,  perhaps  you  in  Marietta,  because  your  ancestors  happen  to  have 
been  the  first  who  came,  think  they  are  entitled  to  all  the  honors  of  settling  the 
State  of  Ohio.  They  are  entitled  to  the  first  honors,  but  they  are  not  entitled  to 
all  the  honors.  Every  one  of  the  old  States  had  a  settlement  here.  Here  was 
Virginia.  In  ceding  her  title  to  this  western  territory,  she  reserved,  not  for  her 
own  use,  but  for  her  revolutionary  soldiers,  a  large  tract  of  country  between  the 
Scioto  River  and  the  Little  Miami,  a  fruitful,  and  fertile,  and  magnificent  coun 
try.  And  she  issued  her  land  warrants  in  a  very  convenient  form  for  entry,  and 
thus  spread  over  that  territory  the  soldiers  of  the  Virginia  regiments.  But  she 
was  not  alone  in  contributing  to  our  population. 

A  company  of  New  Jersey  people  made  a  purchase  from  Congress  similar  to 
that  made  by  your  ancestors,  and  on  precisely  the  same  terms.  All  that  country 
lying  between  the  Little  Miami  and  the  Big  Miami  was  bought  by  the  people  of 
New  Jersey,  and  in  that  way  Symmes  and  Dayton,  and  many  others  of  the  leading 
men  in  New  Jersey  settled  there,  and  occupied  Cincinnati,  Dayton,  and  all  that 
prosperous  region  of  the  country. 

That  was  not  all.  Connecticut,  never  behind  when  there  is  a  chance  for  a 
bargain,  [laughter]  when  she  surrendered  her  claim  based  upon  the  grant  by 
King  James,  she  reserved  something  as  a  token,  and  that  was  the  magnificent 
Western  Reserve,  lying  north  of  the  4ist  parallel,  and  running  west  120  miles. 
So,  now,  in  this  Western  Connecticut,  there  are  more  men  of  the  solid  stock  than 
in  Old  Connecticut.  They  have  larger  cities,  greater  wealth,  and  greater  power. 
That  is  the  way  my  ancestors  got  here  in  Ohio  among  the  pioneers.  My  grand 
father  was  sent  out  as  a  commissioner  to  fix  the  boundaries  of  the  fire  lands 
granted  by  Connecticut,  to  repair  the  loss  of  her  people  by  the  burning  of  her 
town  by  the  British  and  Tories  during  the  Revolutionary  War.  And  so  Con 
necticut  established  a  settlement  in  Ohio,  greater,  even  than  the  Massachusetts 
settlement  here.  That  was  not  all.  Pennsylvania,  never  behind  in  the  race  of 
progress,  although  a  little  slow  in  starting,  sent  her  pioneers  down  here  into 
Fairfield  county,  where  General  Ewing  and  I  were  born;  she  sent  also  her  pio 
neers  to  Stark,  Richland,  Wayne  and  Columbiana  counties.  Into  these  counties 
her  settlers  carried  their  thrifty  habits  and  modes  of  building  houses,  and  farms 
and  roads,  and  to  this  day  it  is  just  as  much  a  Pennsylvania  region  as  Berks  or 
Lancaster  counties.  And  North  of  it,  separated  by  a  parallel  line,  there  is  the 
Yankee  reserve,  just  as  marked  and  distinct  as  the  farms  in  Lancaster  county 
in  Pennsylvania  are  from  the  farms  in  the  Connecticut  Valley.  All  the  old  States 
contributed  to  the  settlement  of  Ohio.  New  York  did  not,  for  many  years, 


246  REPORT   OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


because  she  had  a  vast,  uninhabited  region  of  her  own,  but  the  overflow  came 
into  Ohio.  And  North  Carolina  and  other  States  also  sent  their  contribution, 
mainly  into  Indiana,  further  on.  And,  my  countrymen,  another  remarkable 
feature  of  this  immigration  is,  that  in  the  first  thirty  or  forty  years  of  the  settle 
ment  of  this  State,  nearly  all  of  the  people  who  came  here  were  born  in  this 
country.  Foreign  immigration  did  not  come  until  after  1830.  The  Germans 
commenced  coming  here  then,  and  from  that  on,  their  sturdy  emigrants  supple 
mented  our  Nation's  population.  The  history  of  this  immigration  was  told  me 
by  a  very  distinguished  German,  Mr.  Reemelin,  the  other  clay. 

The  Irish  immigration  did  not  come  to  this  State  in  any  considerable  num 
bers  until  the  canals  were  made ;  nor  did  they  flow  in  rapidly  from  the  Eastern 
States  until  1840. 

So  that  Ohio  was  peopled  by  native  Americans  coming  from  all  the  States. 
They  were  mainly  from  Revolutionary  stock,  each  State  contributing  its  share. 
Do  you  want  to  know  why  Ohio  furnishes  men  of  distinction?  It  is  because 
here,  by  the  mingling  of  these  various  streams,  from  every  part  of  our  great 
American  country,  by  this  mingling  of  the  blood  of  those  honored  in  the  Revo 
lution,  by  the  energy  necessarily  developed  by  the  labor  of  settling  a  new  and 
fertile  country,  we  have  a  cosmopolitan  people,  and  it  was  this  that  gave  force  and 
vitality,  power  and  vigor,  to  the  men  and  women  that  were  bred  in  the  State  of 
Ohio.  [Applause.] 

Now,  my  countrymen,  see  how  marked  was  the  difference  in  the  mode  of 
settling  the  older  States.  Why  was  it,  that  though  we  had  thirteen  colonies 
along  the  Atlantic  coast,  a  greater  extent  of  territory  by  far  than  the  Northwest 
Territory ;  why  was  it  they  did  not  grow  ?  One  hundred  and  fifty  years  after 
the  first  settlement,  there  were  but  three  millions  of  people  along  the  whole 
coast,  while  we  have  placed  in  one  hundred  years  on  the  smaller  Territory  fifteen 
millions  of  civilized  people  where  none  existed  before.  Why  was  this?  It  was 
because  the  early  settlers  of  the  old  States  were  provincial,  of  a  single  type,  re 
ligion  or  characteristic,  cramped  and  crippled  by  the  ideas  that  they  brought  over 
from  the  mother  country.  Let  us  see.  There  was  the  New  England  Puritan, 
who  landed  on  the  dreary  coast  of  New  England.  But  he  came  here  with  his 
hard,  severe  ideas.  He  was  a  peculiar  man,  with  many  virtues  and  some  faults ; 
and  I  am  at  liberty  to  make  confession,  for  among  the  many  in  this  great  audi 
ence  that  are  Yankee  bred,  I  can  claim  to  be  one,  and  yet  I  can  read  in  the  his 
tory  of  New  England,  marks  of  the  hard,  severe,  exacting  self-denial,  and  what 
we  may  call  narrow  notions  of  our  New  England  ancestry,  and  many  traits  that 
I  know  have  been  improved  upon  by  their  descendants  in  Ohio. 

Take  the  Virginia  cavalier.  Well,  I  won't  volunteer,  in  this  presence,  (indi 
cating  Senator  Daniel)  to  say  much  about  the  Virginia  cavalier;  but  my  friend 
here,  Mr.  Daniel,  gave  us  yesterday  the  best  picture  of  a  cavalier  I  have  heard 
for  a  long  time.  [Applause.]  When  he  described  the  Governor  of  Virginia  on 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  247 


a  voyage  of  discovery,  with  his  coach  and  four,  with  his  staff  on  horseback,  sup 
plied  with  all  the  necessaries  of  life — especially  those  that  were  liquid — climbing 
the  Alleghany  Range,  and  looking  westward  into  the  great  basin,  and  then  going 
back  again.  Now,  that  was  an  old  Virginia  gentleman,  and  he  lived  hospitably. 
A  man  gallant,  brave,  a  natural  horseman.  Why,  my  countrymen,  I  have  the 
profoundest  respect  for  the  gentleman  of  the  oldest  State ;  but  he  is  not  and 
never  could  be  the  best  pioneer,  single-handed  and  alone,  to  establish  a  home  in 
the  wilderness,  and  aid  in  building  up  a  community.  I  am  afraid  if  the  darkies 
had  not  done  the  work,  they  would  have  run  out  even  I0ng  before  they  did. 
[Laughter.]  * 

So  take,  now,  the  Dutch — not  our  German  fellow-citizens,  but  the  Dutch  who 
settled  in  New  York.  They  were  a  good,  honest,  sturdy,  frugal  people,  and  no 
population  has  ever  come  to  this  country  that  has  contributed  more  to  its  wealth. 
But  they  are  not  enterprising.  If  you  want  any  authority  on  that,  read  Washing 
ton  Irving's  Knickerbocker,  to  see  how  the  Yankees  cheated  them.  They  sold 
them  wooden  hams  and  nutmegs,  they  encroached  upon  their  Territory,  they 
were  not  a  people  to  build  up  a  city. 

Take  Pennsylvania.  The  original  settlers  were  Quakers ;  and  what  better 
people  could  there  be  in  the  world  than  Quakers?  But  what  business  had 
Quakers  in  a  region  where  they  had  first  to  conquer  the  land  they  occupied. 
Some  had  to  fight,  and  therefore  they  kad  to  cease  to  be  Quakers.  Later  on 
they  settled  in  great  numbers  in  Ohio,  and  they  made  fruitful  and  happy  farms 
and  homes.  But  it  was  the  German  and  Scotch-Irish  that  formed  the  bulk  of  the 
population  of  Pennsylvania,  and  an  admirable  mixture  they  made — a  streak  of 
lean  and  a  streak  of  fat.  United  with  the  Quakers,  they  made  a  strong,  vigor 
ous  and  noble  race;  but  you  had  to  mix  them  well  before  they  amounted  to 
much.  [Laughter.]  They  now  occupy  and  own  several  of  the  most  wealthy 
counties  of  Ohio. 

So  with  the  Huguenots  of  the  Carolinas.  Brave,  gallant  Frenchmen,  who 
came  here  to  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences. 
They  had  been  from  the  beginning  cursed  with  the  presence  of  slavery,  and  many 
of  them  escaped  from  its  influence  by  settling  in  Ohio  and  Indiana.  We  had  the 
choice  of  all  this  race. 

My  countrymen,  in  Ohio  the  blood  of  all  these  types  mingled  together.  In 
Ohio  alone,  and  not  in  the  States  west  of  us,  had  we  the  first  settlers — the  picked 
crop  of  the  Revolutionary  War;  the  active  young  men  of  all  the  Eastern  States 
who  came  here  to  settle,  representing  the  best  types  of  Northern  Europe.  From 
Ohio  their  sons  and  daughters  went  into  every  Western  State.  I  have  traveled 
in  every  State  and  Territory  in  this  Union.  I  hav^e  gone  to  the  utmost  limits  of 
it — from  San  Diego  to  Seattle,  and  I  never  was  in  a  village  or  hamlet  of  the  west 
but  what  I  found  some  Buckeye — some  Ohio  man,  who  came  and  told  me  that 


248  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


he  had  heard  me  make  a  speech,  or  knew  something  about  me.     I  was  from  Ohio, 
and  that  was  enough.     [Applause.] 

Generally,  I  have  found  them  well  up  to  the  head  of  the  line,  or  working 
hard  to  get  there. 

Now,  a  few  thoughts  further,  and  I  am  done.  The  history  and  growth  of 
Ohio  has  been  marked  with  many  vicissitudes,  compared  with  sister  States.  Some 
have  been  more  rapid  in  growth,  but  Ohio,  as  the  pioneer  State,  has  passed  through 
different  stages  of  experience.  What  are  they  ?  The  first  of  all  is  the  struggle 
with  the  Indians.  Tros  generation  has  not  shared  in  this,  but  I  have  lived  long 
enough  to  have  heard  from  living  witnesses  the  desperate  character  of  this  con 
test,  especially  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State.  That  struggle  with  the  Indian 
tribes  continued  from  the  day  of  the  settlement  here  at  Marietta,  until  the  close 
of  the  war  of  1812.  I  heard  the  story  from  your  early  settlers  when 'I  was  a 
junior  rodman  on  the  Muskingum  River  Improvement,  and  when  many  an  old 
soldier  under  Harrison,  and  some  pioneers  who  carried  their  trusty  rifle  to  the 
harvest  field,  and  fled  for  refuge  to  the  nearest  block-house. 

My  uncle  Dan  settled  in  Huron  county  as  a  boy,  in  1811.  He  was  there  in 
peaceful  possession  when  his  hired  man  was  killed  by  the  Indians ;  and  uncle 
Dan,  knowing  that  discretion  was  the  better  part  of  valor,  walked  through  the 
woods  forty  miles  to  Mansfield.  He  would  not  stop  at  the  block-house  there — 
that  was  not  strong  enough  for  him-— but  walked  seventy-five  miles  further  to 
Lancaster.  That  was  in  the  war  of  1812,  when  the  Indians  held  in  terror  more 
than  half  of  Ohio.  I  saw  the  last  Indian  tribe  leave  the  soil  of  Ohio  in  1845. 
This  was  but  a  remnant  of  the  Wyandot  nation,  once  one  of  the  most  powerful 
of  Indian  tribes,  then  but  a  few  scattered  people  left,  and  they  feeble  and  un 
healthy.  They  went  to  Wyandot,  in  Kansas,  and  there  the  last  of  this  tribe  has 
perished. 

During  that  time  the  life  of  the  pioneer  was  a  life  of  danger,  toil,  trouble, 
with  the  rifle  always  at  his  side,  with  the  fear  that  his  wife  and  children  might 
be  captured,  and  tomahawked  and  scalped.  My  countrymen,  we  cannot  appre 
ciate  those  scenes  that  were  encountered  by  a  brave  and  hardy  race,  and  were  a 
necessary  prelude  to  this  period  of  comfort  and  luxury. 

The  next  stage  was  the  clearing  and  the  log-cabin  period  ;  when  every  home 
stead  was  a  log-cabin.  No  brick  houses  then  ;  no  frame  houses  except  in  the 
towns.  What  toil  did  they  encounter !  The  deadening  of  the  trees,  their  grad 
ual  falling,  the  logging  and  burning,  the  clearing,  the  rude  plowing  amidst  the 
stumps  and  roots — what  exciting,  toilsome  times!  We  talk  about  hard  times 
now !  Then  the  pioneer  was  glad  to  get  thirty-two  cents  a  bushel  for  wheat ; 
eggs  and  butter  could  not  be  sold  for  money.  The  only  way  they  could  get 
money  was  to  drive  hogs,  cattle,  sheep  and  horses  over  the  Allegheny  Mountains, 
and  there  sell  for  money — York  money  as  they  called  it.  That  was  the  age  of 
the  log-cabin,  and  many  of  the  settlers  thought  it  was  the  happiest  time  in  their 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  249 


life.  Many  of  them  said,  "  I  wish  to  God  we  had  none  of  these  railroads  and 
telegraphs — they  bother  me."  They  were  uneasy,  and  threatened  to  go  West,  and 
many  did  go.  Custom  made  the  solitude  and  independence  of  their  life,  happi 
ness,  but  how  would  we  suffer  with  such  surroundings. 

The  next  stage  of  this  history  was  the  canal  and  turnpikes.  When  the  State 
of  Ohio,  in  1825,  started  the  system  of  internal  improvement,  it  gave  employ 
ment  to  thousands  of  people  from  abroad — to  Irish,  German,  and  other  laborers. 
Then  came  our  first  foreign  immigration.  Then  new  devices  began  to  introduce 
Eastern  habits  and  Eastern  notions  here.  I  remember,  as  a  boy,  the  first  ride  I 
ever  had  in  a  canal  boat.  I  thought  it  was  the  most  luxurious  mode  of  travel 
ever  invented  by  the  ingenuity  of  man.  Then  our  crops  found  a  market.  Money 
became  more  abundant,  turnpikes  and  plank  roads  were  made,  and  especially  the 
great  National  Road  was  built  by  the  Government  from  Cumberland,  Maryland, 
to  Illinois.  Under  the  influence  of  these  improvements  we  rapidly  grew  in  pop 
ulation  and  wealth,  and  soon  became  the  third  State  in  the  Union. 

Then  came  the  age  of  railroads  and  telegraphs.  I  had  just  entered  into 
manhood  when  the  first  railroads  in  Ohio  were  constructed.  What  a  story  I 
might  tell  you  about  the  narrow  ideas  then  held  of  railroads  and  telegraphs ! 
But  this  wonderful  Genii  of  modern  civilization  soon  revolutionized  modes  of 
travel  and  transportation,  and  even  of  thought,  employment  and  industry.  It 
was  the  quickening  influence  of  the  railroad  that  made  possible  a  diversity  of 
employments,  that  brought  agriculture,  manufactures  and  commerce  side  by  side 
with  each  other,  so  that  the  workshop  of  the  artisan  furnished  a  home  market 
for  the  farmer,  and  the  land  yielded  rich  treasures  of  wealth,  and  gave  plenty 
and  comfort  to  all  classes. 

And  now,  still  later,  new  elements  of  power,  long  time  hidden  by  the  Al 
mighty  in  the  earth,  have  been  found,  and  natural  gas,  petroleum,  artesian  wells, 
and  electricity,  mysterious  agents  of  power,  are  put  under  the  control  of  man. 
There  is  no  end — (at  this  moment  Mr.  Sherman  made  a  mis-step. and  caught  him 
self  by  the  desk  as  he  lost  his  balance,  but  quickly  recovered  and  said,  "  One  step 
too  many").  [Laughter.]  There  is  no  end  now  to  the  power  and  progress  and 
wealth  of  our  State.  Though  I  confine  my  description  to  Ohio,  for  this  is  Ohio 
day,  it  is  true  also  as  to  all  the  Western  States  formed  out  of  the  Northwest  Ter 
ritory.  This  glorious  group  of  States,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and 
Wisconsin,  will  now  be  considered  the  impregnable  bulwark  of  an  indestructible 
Union.  [Applause.] 

Now,  fellow-citizens,  I  am'  done.  I  shall,  however,  though  I  may  not  be 
the  one  to  utter  it,  return  thanks,  reverently  and  devoutly,  to  the  Almighty  Ruler 
of  the  universe,  for  all  the  good  He  has  heaped  upon  the  people  of  this  State,  and 
of  the  whole  country.  Here  we  are,  the  most  powerful  Republic  in  the  world, 
born  within  a  hundred  years.  Here  we  are,  living  in  new  communities,  peopling 
a  continent,  having  every  advantage  of  wealth,  land,  soil  and  climate  enjoyed  by 


250  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


any  Nation  in  the  world.  More  than  that,  we  have  free  institutions,  we  have  free 
schools,  we  have  general  intelligence.  We  have  small  farms,  no  land-locked 
monopoly  closing  the  door  to  the  poor,  in  acquiring  a  home ;  no  privileged 
classes ;  no  titled  aristocracy ;  but  a  free  Republic  of  equal  citizens,  governed  by 
laws  of  their  own  making.  Here  we  have  all  these  blessings.  I  most  reverently 
thank  God  for  our  homes,  our  cities,  our  abiding  place,  our  State  ;  but,  more 
than  all,  for  our  country.  [Great  applause.] 


Gov.  Foraker :  I  am  requested  to  announce,  before  intro 
ducing  the  next  speaker,  that  there  will  be  given  a  concert  to 
night  in  this  building  by  the  Elgin  Band,  and  that  tickets  will 
be  for  sale  at  the  ticket  office  at  the  front  entrance.  This  con 
cert  to  be  given  for  the  benefit  of  this  Celebration. 

You  will  now  be  addressed  by  one  who  needs  no  introduc 
tion  to  this  audience.  Known  all  over  the  State,  he  is  espec 
ially  at  home  in  this  district,  which  he  has  the  honor  of  repre 
senting  in  the  United  States  Congress.  I  have  the  honor  of 
presenting  to  you,  Gen.  Charles  H.  Grosvenor. 


Address   of  Qer\.  GKarles 


OF  OHIO. 


MR.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN:  I  recognize  that  my  assign 
ment  to  the  programme  of  to-day,  was  rather  for  the  purpose  of  conferring  an 
honor  upon  the  body  that  I  have  the  honor  to  be  a  member  of,  than  with  the  ex 
pectation  that  I  should  be  able  to  add  anything  to  the  splendid  results  which 
have  grown  out  of  the  selection  of  orators  for  this  especial  occasion.  The  time 
has  come,  however,  in  the  history  of  the  Marietta  Centennial,  when  I  can  safely, 
and  I  trust  properly,  congratulate  the  people  of  Marietta,  of  Washington  county, 
and  of  Ohio  also,  upon  the  splendid  success,  unalloyed  and  qualified  of  this  Cen 
tennial  Celebration.  [Applause.] 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  251 


It  was  conceived  in  a  spirit  worthy  of  the  magnificent  occasion,  that  it  was 
intended  to  commemorate,  and  it  has  been  executed  in  a  manner  commensurate 
with  the  achievements  of  the  sons  of  the  men  that  here  laid  so  strong  and  so 
immutable,  the  corner-stone  of  the  great  nationality.  [Applause.]  I  want  to 
refer  to  the  fact,  and  it  is  the  greatest,  because  of  congratulation  to-day,  that  the 
people  who  conceived  the  idea  of  the  Celebration,  saw  fit  to  put  up  as  the  great 
attraction,  the  event  itself.  It  was  the  event  that  we  came  here  to  commemo 
rate,  that  was  relied  on  by  the  managers  of  this  Centennial  to  make  it  the  suc 
cess  which  they  have  achieved.  They  did  not  rely  upon  meretricious  and  col 
lateral  attractions.  They  invited  the  people  of  the  country  to  come  here  into 
this  beautiful  city,  upon  the  banks  of  these  magnificent  rivers,  at  an  auspicious 
season  of  the  year,  to  celebrate  a  great  historical  event,  and  they  resolved  that 
the  event  itself,  and  the  memories  that  flow  out  from  it,  were  enough  to  bring 
here  all  the  people  of  this  section  of  the  country,  to  make  this  Celebration  forever 
memorable  in  the  history  of  this  country;  and  they  were  not  mistaken.  [Ap 
plause.] 

It  is  a  strong  commentary,  a  flattering  commentary,  a  grand  commentary 
upon  the  intelligence,  the  virtue  and  the  patriotism  of  the  people,  that  they  rec 
ognize  the  grandeur  of  the  occasion,  and  came  here  as  they  have.  And  how 
splendidly  successful  you  have  been.  The  patriotism  of  the  Legislature,  the  aid 
which  it  gave,  the  unceasing  and  unexampled  devotion  which  the  Executive  of 
the  State  has  given  to  make  this  occasion  worthy  of  the  State  and  worthy  of  his 
administration,  has  been  one  of  the  noble  features  of  the  whole  history  of  the 
day.  [Applause.] 

The  co-operation  of  our  sister  States  who  have  sent  their  eloquent  represen 
tatives  here  has  added  greatly  to  the  pleasant  features  of  the  occasion,  and  those 
gentlemen  who  have  done  us  the  honor  to  come  from  abroad,  the  distinguished, 
learned,  able  Senator  of  New  York,  and  the  silvery-tongued,  matchless  orator  of 
Virginia.  [Applause.]  They  have  come  here,  wisely  chosen,  to  discharge  their 
pleasant  duty  in  this  behalf  to  the  citizens  of  Marietta,  and  have  been  untiring. 

Who  would  have  supposed  it  possible,  when  this  event  was  contemplated, 
that  this  little  city  could  have  received  with  such  hospitality,  and  cared  for  with 
such  unerring  courtesy,  such  an  enormous  crowd  of  people;  and  no  man,  woman 
or  child  will  go  away  frpm  Marietta  and  not  remember  with  pleasure  while  they 
live,  the  reception  which  they  have  received  here  on  this  occasion.  [Applause.] 
And  that  I  am  right  about  the  fact  that  it  was  the  occasion,  that  it  was  the  spirit, 
that  it  was  the  event  that  was  relied  upon,  we  had  an  exhibition  of  it  here  upon 
this  platform  night  before  last.  That  the  people  here  understood  what  it  was 
that  we  were  here  to  celebrate,  nobody  could  be  misled  when  they  sat  in  the  au 
dience  and  witnessed  the  pageant  that  we  had  here  last  night. 

And  we  are  reaching  the  conclusion  of  this  splendid  occasion — and  we  are 
looking  forward  in  our  mind's  eye  to  another  hundred  years,  when  our  representa 
tives  and  descendants  will  be  here  to  celebrate  again,  upon  this  spot,  this  anni 
versary.  There  will  be  no  rival  for  Marietta  one  hundred  years  from  now,  upon 
the  question  of  where  this  celebration  shall  take  place. 


252  REPORT    OF     THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


It  will  be  right  here ;  and  I  can  almost  fancy  that  I  hear  some  herald,  in  the 
heraldry  of  to-day,  coming  out  upon  some  larger  platform  under  more  auspicious 
circumstances,  and  announcing  the  appearance  upon  the  mimic  stage  of  the  rep 
resentatives  who  have  appeared  and  figured  in  the  great  Centennial  of  1888.  I 
can  hear  some  herald  proclaiming,  as  the  head  of  the  column  makes  its  appear 
ance,  "  Governor  Foraker  and  Mrs.  Foraker."  [Applause.]  "  Senator  Daniel 
and  Senator  Evarts."  [Applause.]  And  I  believe  I  will  stop  there,  because  the 
list  would  grow  into  an  interminable  length,  and  I  might  make  some  invidious 
combination  that  might  not  be  proper  at  the  end  of  the  next  100  years.  [Laugh 
ter.]  But  there  is  this  to  be  said  about  it :  The  persons  who  come  upon  this 
platform  a  hundred  years  hence  to  represent  the  men  who  have  borne  these  dis 
tinguished  parts  in  this  celebration,  will  have  to  be  selected  from  the  best  of  the 
tribe,  or  else  the  whole  progress  of  human  nature  will  have  to  be  upward  during 
the  .next  century  of  our  existence.  So  we  do  not  feel  that  there  will  ever  be  a 
great  struggle  in  that  day  to  keep  down  the  remembrance  of  the  best  men,  lest 
they  should  discredit  or  overestimate  the  men  of  to-day. 

I  congratulate  you,  then,  my  countrymen,  upon  the  fact  that  this  celebration 
has  been  a  success  without  alloy.  No  hitch  has  happened  in  it.  No  break  any 
where.  Nothing,  perhaps,  excepting  that  I  might  put  the  exception  in  the  form 
and  character  of  the  executive  department  of  the  weather  bureau  on  yesterday. 
But  it  seems  *o  me  only  for  the  purpose  of  showing  to  us  at  last,  in  our  pride  and 
strength,  how  much  of  our  success  at  last  was  due  to  Him  who  rules  the  universe 
and  bestows  his  blessings  upon  his  creatures. 

Let  me  speak  now,  but  for  a  very  brief  moment,  about  some  of  the  features 
of  Ohio,  as  this  is  Ohio's  day.  I  shall  not  speak  of  the  great  men  of  Ohio.  That, 
too,  would  be  a  task  too  long.  Ohio  has  produced  great  men  in  every  rank  and 
station  of  life.  Great  in  war  and  great  in  peace ;  great  in  the  administration  of 
her  own  government,  and  great  in  the  administration  of  the  National  Govern 
ment.  She  has  produced  men,  the  conferring  upon  whom  of  the  Presidency  of 
the  United  States,  has  not  enlarged  their  stature,  and  men,  the  refusal  to  confer 
the  Presidency  upon  them  has  not  reduced  their  stature.  [Applause.]  And  so, 
in  all  the  ranks  and  walks  of  life,  Ohio  has  never  failed  to  produce  the  men  at 
the  hour. 

But  I  want  to  speak  something  of  our  Government — and  dwelling  upon  a 
field  like  that,  you  might  become  impatient,  as  the  hour  of  noon  is  rapidly  ap 
proaching;  but  I  can  assure  you  I  promise  to  limit  my  time,  which  shall  be  faith 
fully  observed.  The  three  great  branches  of  our  Government,  the  legislative, 
judicial  and  executivei  are  matters  about  which  our  contemplation  may  well 
dwell,  and  our  pride  and  joy  and  satisfaction  may  well,  at  the  end  of  a  hundred 
years,  be  increased  and  enlarged.  The  legislative  department  of  Ohio's  govern 
ment  has  been  characteristic  of  our  people.  The  legislative  department  has,  I 
think  it  is  safe  to  say,  been  always  representative.  And  while  there  may  have 
been  times,  when,  in  the  heat  of  partisan  strife,  we  have  lost  sight  of  the  higher 
motives,  the  great  aggregate  of  the  wisdom,  and  of  virtue,  and  the  patriotism  of 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  253 


the  legislative  department  of  Ohio  stands  in  characters  of  indelible  strength  upon 
the  statute  books  of  our  State.  [Applause.] 

I  want  Mrs.  Livermore,  the  most  eloquent,  the  most  worthy  of  the  great  rep 
resentatives  of  the  rights  of  women  who  have  come  to  our  Centennial,  to  know 
that  it  was  upon  the  statute  books  of  Ohio,  by  a  most  unanimous  legislative  act 
of  her  legislature,  that  the  first  great  innovation  leading  up  to  the  ultimate  en 
thronement  of  the  equal  rights  of  the  Nation,  was  made  here  on  Northwestern 
soil.  And  we  may  well  point  with  pride  to  the  fact  that  in  the  beginning  of  the 
war,  when  by  reason  of  the  movements  that  kad  led  up  to  it  our  national  credit 
was  debased  and  broken  down,  that  it  was  Ohio,  by  her  legislative  enactment, 
placed  there  by  men  of  both  parties,  urged  on  to  it  by  a  spirit  of  patriotism  and 
loyalty  to  the  government,  that  the  credit  of  the  government  was  lifted  up,  and 
the  first  money  to  save  the  Union  was  borrowed  and  put  into  the  furnace  that 
swept  away  so  many  millions  of  eur  money. 

And  so,  all  along  the  line,  in  the  adoption  of  the  amendments  to  the  consti 
tution,  and  all  the  great  history  that  has  crowded  upon  the  last  quarter  of  a  cen 
tury,  Ohio  has  led,  through  her  legislative  department,  in  the  grand  direction 
that  the  star  of  progress  shall  lead  the  people  of  the  great  Nation.  Of  our  judi 
ciary,  as  such,  no  criticism  has  ever  been  made  ;  and  in  this  State,  when  carping 
criticism  attacks  even  the  subtlest,  it  is  a  proud  reminiscence  on  a  day  like  this, 
that  we  can  look  back  over  a  hundred  years,  and  never  recollect  or  recall  when 
an  Ohio  court  or  an  Ohio  judicial  officer  was  ever  charged  with  corruption  or 
malfeasance  in  office.  [Applause.] 

Our  system  has  always  been  perfect.  We  have  gone  through  the  jurisdiction 
from  the  old  Supreme  Court  to  the  Appeal  Court  on  the  circuit,  which  was 
adapted  to  our  early  pioneer  days,  and  along  upon  the  line  to  our  present  great 
system  of  the  Probate  Court,  Common  Pleas  Court  and  Circuit  Court,  and  the 
court  of  ultimate  resort,  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio.  It  may  be  possible  that 
some  mistakes  have  grown  up  in  our  system,  in  the  construction  of  the  court; 
but  on  a  day  like  this,  it  is  no  time  to  speak  like  that ;  it  is  enough  for  me  to  con 
gratulate  the  people  of  Ohio,  and  to  put  it  into  the  record,  that  our  courts  have 
been  pure,  and  that  the  averment  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the 
declaration  of  the  American  people  is,  that  justice  shall  always  be  available  to 
the  humblest  citizen  of  the  land,  has  been  carried  out  and  made  grand  and  glo 
riously  triumphant  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio. 

Along  the  line  of  illustrious  men  who  have  filled  the  office  of  Governor  of 
Ohio,  I  shall  not  refer  by  name,  and  in  detail  to  these  men  ;  their  names  are 
written  on  the  scroll  of  fame.  They  have  gone  from  the  Governor's  office  of 
Ohio,  and  filled  the  highest  places  in  the  Nation,  and  without  distinction  of 
party,  there  has  never  yet  been  alleged  against  a  Governor  of  Ohio,  that  he  was 
unfaithful  to  this  trust.  And  go  back  to  the  first  Governor,  and  speaking  on 
this  Centennial  day  of  his  integrity,  I  may  safely  and  justly  come  down  through 
the  varying  changes  of  political  parties,  and  point  with  approbation  from  this 
standpoint  to  the  administration  of  all  of  them.  And  I  may  say  without  impro- 


254  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


priety,  on  this  Centennial  day,  that  there  is  a  magnificent  commingling  of  the 
purity,  the  efficiency  and  the  patriotism  of  the  first  administration  with  the  last 
administration,  by  the  youngest  Governor  Ohio  ever  had.  [Applause.] 

So  that  in  making  up  the  record  of  our  State,  we  may  point  to  the  fact  that 
our  forefathers  devised  and  our  predecessors  improved  upon,  and  we  have  exe 
cuted  a  system  of  State  Government  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  within  the  pervue  of  power,  and  admittedly  belonging  to  the  State  Govern 
ments  of  the  country,  without  complaint,  without  corruption,  without  failure  of 
patriotism,  and  in  the  sight  of  God  and  man,  a  State  Government  that  cannot  be 
censured  by  the  history  of  the  future.  [Applause.] 

Education,  religion  and  morality,  were  the  watch-words  of  the  founders  of 
the  Northwest  Territory.  The  religion  of  the  people  has  been  left  to  the  con 
sciences  of  the  people.  Every  citizen  has  been  guaranteed,  and  protected  always, 
under  all  circumstances,  the  right  to  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  his 
own  conscience  ;  and  being  compelled  to  pay  taxes  for  the  support  of  no  religion, 
that  has  not  been  assessed  at  the  counter  of  his  own  conscience,  and  paid  by  his 
own  liberal  hand.  [Applause.] 

And  so  it  is  to-day,  that  in  all  this  land  we  have  no  unjust  competition,  no 
unwise  controversy  between  any  sects  of  religion ;  and  the  fulfillment  of  the 
promise  of  the  fathers  is  found  in  the  church  spires  that  point  Heavenward  from 
all  the  villages  and  country  places  of  Ohio,  and  the  music  of  our  church  bells,  and 
the  heart  of  our  people,  that  worship  God,"that  made  this  Nation  great,  accord 
ing  to  their  owaa  views  of  character,  and  the  requirements  that  he  has  put  upon 
man. 

Education  has  been  fostered.  I  do  not  speak  against  the  cities  in  other 
States,  when  I  say  there  is  no  better  one  than  that  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  the 
people's  colleges,  the  people's  school  houses,  the  people's  system  of  education, 
has  grown  up  until  it  has  permeated  this  whole  country  with  education  within 
the  reach  of  every  man,  and  every  woman,  and  every  child. 

Morality  has  been  the  watchword  of  Ohio.  Her  public  officers  have  set  an 
example  of  morality  to  her  people ;  her  people  have  emulated  the  example  of  her 
public  officers ;  and  to-day,  Ohio  stands  without  a  rival  in  the  line  of  proper  de 
portment,  moral  conduct  and  purity  of  purpose  and  action.  From  whence  we 
get  this  truth  it  is  not  hard  to  conceive.  It  came  from  these  sturdy  men  of  New 
England.  It  was  brought  and  planted  here.  This  building  covers  the  garden- 
spot  in  which  the  germ  was  planted  ;  and  the  magnificent  tree  that  has  sent  out 
its  branches  all  over  this  Northwest  Territory,  had  its  roots  and  abiding  place 
here  upon  the  banks  of  the  beautiful  Muskingum.  [Applause.] 

.  So  much  for  these  three  features  of  our  law.  No  State  in  the  Union  stands 
better  to-day,  than  Ohio,  in  the  administration  of  her  charities.  No  State  in  the 
country  expends  per  capita,  more  money  for  the  amelioration  of  the  evils  that 
come  upon  our  fellow-men.  No  State  in  the  country  has  a  better  system  of  State 
institutions  than  ours.  Some  of  them  go  away  back.  And  to-day,  there  are  in 
the  asylums  of  Ohio,  of  the  unfortunate  of  our  people,  almost  4,500  cared  for,  in 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  255 


the  system  of  the  insane  asylums  that  are  without  parallel  for  efficiency  of  ad 
ministration,  in  any  State  of  this  Union,  or  in  any  country  of  the  civilized  globe. 

We  have  protected  the  State  against  the  growth  of  crime.  Once  it  was  the 
policy,  or  the  practice  in  Ohio,  as  in  other  States,  to  pen  the  criminals,  and  to 
guard  the  public  against  the  presence  of  the  criminal  after  he  had  become  a 
criminal ;  but  all  that  has  been  changed  in  Ohio.  And  to-day,  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  this  State  has  grown  up  how,  not  only  to  prevent  the 
growth  of  criminals,  but  to  educate  those  who  are  by  misfortune  more  especially 
exposed  to  the  paths  of  degrading  criminality,  and  make  them  faithful  men  and 
women,  parts  of  the  commonwealth  in  the  future  ;  and  show  thirty-three  Chil. 
dren's  Homes,  built  under  the  system  of  the  legislation  which  I  ought  to  have  re 
ferred  to,  because  they  protect  2,500  children  that  otherwise  would  be  waifs, 
growing  up,  being  educated  for  crime,  destined  to  the  Penitentiary,  ultimately  to 
become  criminals,  are  being  educated  in  the  Children's  Homes  of  the  State,  to 
become  ultimately  stars  in  the  galaxy  of  humanity  and  merely  in  the  State  of 
Ohio.  [Applause.] 

Grateful  to  the  soldiersjwho  died  upon  the  battle-field,  grateful  to  the  mem. 
ory  of  the  man  who  lost  his  health  in  the  struggle  for  National  unity  and  the 
supremacy  of  the  Constitution,  the  people  of  Ohio  endowed  long  ago  an  Orphans' 
Home  at  Xenia,  in  which  to-day  more  than  eight -hundred  of  the  children  of  the 
dead  and  dying  soldiers  of  the  country  are  being  educated  for  future  usefulness. 
And  so  in  all  the  other  institutions  of  the  country.  And  here,  to-day,  I  want  to 
say,  that  without  exception,  in  no  period  of  the  history  of  Ohio  have  these  public 
institutions  of  Ohio  been  in  better  condition  than  they  are  now.  I  can  conceive 
of  a  revolution  in  the  whole  system  of  the  management  of  our  State  institutions, 
that  future  time,  future  intelligence,  future  patriotism  may  approve  of;  but  under 
our  present  system  I  can  see  of  no  higher  degree  of  perfection  than  the  public 
institutions  of  the  State  have  reached  at  this  time  in  our  history. 

So  much  for  the  present  and  the  past.  The  present  condition  is  ours,  the 
future  lies  before  the  people  of  Ohio  ;  and  the  degree  of  greatness,  the  degree  of 
perfection,  the  height  of  development  that  we  are  to  reach,  is  to  be  decided  in 
the  future,  and  all  depends  upon  the  virtue,  the  intelligence  and  the  patriotism 
of  the  people  of  the  State.  May  I  not  confidently  look  forward,  with  the  confi 
dent  assurance  that  from  the  example  of  those  that  have  gone  before  us,  the 
present  will  not  be  the  stopping-place  of  the  race,  that  we  will  turn  our  backs 
upon  all  that  is  past,  and  with  our  faces  to  the  rising  sun,  to  attain  absolute  per 
fection  in  government  the  next  hundred  years  of  the  development  of  this  State, 
will  owe  an  unpayable  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  men  and  women  of  this  genera 
tion  who,  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  this  Centennial,  will  go  forward  to  achieve  a 
grandeur  in  the  future  commensurate  with  the  men  and  women  who  here  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  structure  which  we  are  building.  [Applause.] 

17  C.B. 


256  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

Gov.  Foraker :  The  audience  will  be  dismissed  as  soon  as 
the  music,  which  we  will  now  have,  is  ended,  without  any  fur 
ther  announcement,  to  recommence  here  promptly  this  after 
noon. 

After  the  rendition  of  the  music  by  the  Elgin  Band,  the 
Convention  adjourned  until  2  p.  M.,  Thursday,  July  19,  1888. 


AFTERNOON  SESSION— Juiy  19—2  o'clock. 

Gov.  J.  B.  Foraker  presiding. 

Gov.  Foraker:  Mrs.  Almira  D.  Guthrie,  a  lady  aged  75, 
one  of  the  descendants  of  the  pioneers,  and  the  wife  of  a  man 
who  was  the  son  of  the  man  who  first  sowed  wheat  in  the 
Northwest  Territory,  has  written  a  poem,  which  I  am  requested 
to  read  at  the  opening  of  the  exercises  of  the  afternoon. 

Gov.  Foraker  then  read  the  following : 


ROM  our  homes  o'er  all  the  city, 
And  from  homes  far,  far  away, 

We  have  gladly  met  together, 
Just  to  celebrate  this  day. 


Oft  in  by-gone  years  we've  listened 
To  the  history  of  that  band, 

Who  from  Eastern  homes  departed 
To  possess  the  Western  land. 

So  in  wagons  first  they  started,  • 
Over  mountains  high  and  rough  ; 

But  when  they  arrived  at  Pittsburgh 
They  had  ridden  far  enough. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  257 


There  they  stopped  and  bought  a  flat-boat, 
And  from  wagons  took  their  load ; 

To  pursue  their  journey  westward, 
With  the  river  for  their  road. 

Thus  they  calmly  floated  downward; 

But  ere  long  their  trip  was  o'er; 
When  they  came  to  the  Muskingum, 

There  they  landed  on  the  shore. 

Now  one  hundred  years  have  vanished 
Since  they  came  into  this  State, 

On  the  seventh  day  of  April, 

Seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-eigkt. 

The  State  was  then  a  boundless  forest, 
Where  the  wolves  and  deer  did  roam, 

Where  the  panther,  bear  and  wild-cat 
Occupied  their  forest  home. 

How  the  pioneers  did  suffer, 

And  what  hardships  on  them  fell; 

How  they  had  to  tread  the  war-path, 
All  are  things  I  will  not  tell. 

How  the  Indians  did  annoy  them, 
And  what  troubles  they  did  know, 

When  they  built  a  fort  at  Harmar, 
Has  been  told  long,  long  ago. 

How  our  memory  fondly  clusters, 
Round  the  loved  ones  passed  away, 

And  with  tender,  deep  devotion, 
Calls  them  back  with  us  to-day. 

We  have  come  to  Marietta, 

To  enjoy  this  day  once  more," 
Where  our  ancestors  first  settled. 

On  Ohio's  precious  shore. 


258  REPORT   OF  THE    COMMISSIONERS   OF    THE 


Though  surrounded  now  by  pleasure, 
Soon  the  time  will  pass  away, 

Yet  in  memory  we'll  live  over 

Ohio's  Centennial  Day.     [Applause.] 
APRIL  7,  1888. 


Gov.  Foraker:  I  am  requested  to  announce  to  the  audi 
ence  that  the  United  States  Government  has  granted  permis 
sion  for  the  United  States  Exhibit  to  remain  here  until  Satur 
day,  in  order  that  the  citizens  of  Marietta  and  elsewhere  may 
have  a  better  opportunity  than  they  have  had  to  visit  the  same. 

Gov.  Foraker:  In  the  absence  of  the  regular  speaker  for 
this  afternoon,  I  now  .have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you 
Hon.  David  K.  Watson,  Attorney-General  of  the  State,  who 
has  been  assigned  to  duty  for  this  occasion.  [Applause.] 


Address  of  ]4or\.  D.  K.  Watson. 


MR.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  I  trust  I  properly  appreciate 
this  Centennial  Celebration,  and  especially  Ohio  day.  I  am  glad  Ohio  forms  a 
part  of  the  great  Northwest  Territory.  I  am  grateful  for  the  Ordinance  of  1787. 
.  A  few  weeks  ago  in  the  city  of  Chicago  (and  I  mention  the  place  because 
between  the  place  and  the  act  there  seems  a  kind  of  sentiment),  in  that  great,  ac 
tive  and  wonderful  city,  throbbing  with  a  thousand  industries,  I  bought  a  picture 
of  the  oldest  house  in  America ;  and  when  I  took  it  home  and  showed  it  to  my 
wife  she  laughed  at  me.  But,  you  know,  Governor,  it  won't  pay  for  a  man  to 
get  huffy  just  because  his  wife  laughs  at  him.  [Laughter.]  Every  married  man 
here  knows  that,  and  every  man  who  is  here  and  is  not  married,  will  find  it  out 
very  soon  after  he  gets  married.  [Renewed  laughter.]  But  I  take  great  pleasure 
in  looking  at  the  picture  of  that  primitive  home,  for  it  carries  me  in  thought  be- 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  259 


yond  the  establishment  of  the  confederation  we  are  this  day  celebrating;  it  car 
ries  me  beyond  the  American  Revolution,  and  back  to  and  beyond  those  memo 
rable  troubles  that  preceded  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  it  carries  me 
to  the  days  of  Plymouth  Rock  and  Jamestown.  It  suggests  also  the  time  when, 
from  the  great  ocean  on  the  east  to  the  greater  one  on  the  west,  there  was  nothing 
to  break  the  profound  and  universal  quiet  of  the  forest  and  the  desert  but  the 
war-cry  of  the  savage.  When  there  were  no  cities,  or  towns,  or  beautiful  villages; 
no  academies  of  science,  or  art,  or  music  ;  no  lofty  monuments  to  perpetuate  per 
sonal  heroism  or  national  glory ;  when  there  were  no  churches  or  school-houses* 
no  railroads  or  steamships,  no  sewing-machines  or  threshing-machines,  no  tele* 
graph  or  telephone,  no  printing  press  or  great  daily  papers,  no  canals,  no  free 
turnpikes;  absolutely  none  of  the  great  blessings  of  civilization  we  now  enjoy, 
but  only  the  primitive  stillness  and  solitude  of  nature.  [Applause.]  Then  I  think 
of  the  mighty  and  marvelous  march  of  civilization  which  has  spanned  the  conti 
nent  from  ocean  to  ocean.  All  history  fails,  utterly  fails,  to  furnish  anything  like 
it.  To-day,  my  fellow-citizens,  I  look  upon  a  different  picture — a  picture  of  the 
wealth,  and  beauty,  and  civilization  of  Ohio  exemplified  in  the  faces  of  this  splen 
did  audience.  This,  Mr.  Chairman,  is  Ohio  as  it  is  to-day.  [Applause.] 

Let  me  say  something  about  this  mighty  and  wonderful  State  which  has 
been  carved  out  for  us,  and  concerning  which  you  have  already  heard  so  much 
from  the  distinguished  gentlemen  who  preceded  me.  From  the  long  and  beauti 
ful  river  on  the  south,  it  reaches  the  waters  of  the  great  lake  on  the  north,  and 
if  you  were  to  start  at  its  eastern  line  and  travel  thirty  miles  an  hour,  you  would 
have  to  travel  ten  hours  before  you  reached  its  western  limit.  There  it  is;  geo 
graphically  the  best  situated  of  any  State  in  the  Union.  Her  valleys  are  the 
richest  and  most  fertile  in  the  world,  while  her  hillsides  literally  burst  with  their 
deposits  of  ore  and  coal.  Her  population  is  nearly  four  millions,  or  more  than 
all  the  colonies  at  the  time  of  the  American  Revolution.  She  pays  more  for 
educational  purposes  than  any  of  her  sister  States,  with  possibly  one  or  two  ex 
ceptions,  and  has  more  colleges  than  any  State  in  the  Union.  She  is  the  fairest, 
the  grandest,  the  greatest  of  the  new  Confederacy,  and  among  the  greatest  of  the 
Nation.  [Great  applause.] 

Three  of  her  sons  have  reached  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States,  the 
most  exalted  position  it  is  possible  for  an  American  citizen  to  reach,  or  any  citi 
zen  of  the  world  to  reach,  and  she  is  absolutely  the  only  State  that  ever  dared  to 
question  with  Virginia,  the  honor  of  the  motherhood  of  Presidents.  [Great  ap 
plause.]  Five  of  her  sons  have  been  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Nation, 
and  two  of  these  have  reached  the  exalted  position  of  Chief  Justice  of  that 
great  court.  No  Nation,  and  no  State  in  this  Nation,  has  produced  greater 
lawyers  than  she.  [More  applause.]  For  profound  knowledge  of  the  law  and 
philosophical  comprehension  of  its  principles,  no  man  ever  surpassed  Thomas 
Ewing  or  Henry  Stanbery.  [Great  cheering.]  In  war  she  has  been  greater 


260  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


even  than  in  peace.  During  the  recent  rebellion,  two  of  her  sons  reached  the 
highest  rank  which  it  is  possible  for  an  American  soldier  to  attain,  and  since 
then  another  son  has  attained  the  same  exalted  position.  In  that  awful  struggle 
for  liberty  and  national  supremacy  and  perpetuity,  twenty  of  her  sons  reached 
the  rank  of  Major-General,  and  thirty  reached  the  rank  of  Brigadier-General. 
But  it  was  not  because  she  produced  the  greatest  generals,  nor  because  many 
of  her  sons  were  among  the  greatest  generals,  that  she  was  so  great  in  war,  but 
it  was  because  she  sent  three  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  volunteers  to  fight  and 
battle,  and,  if  necessary,  to  die,  in  order  that  human  liberty  might  forever  be 
stamped  upon  the  Constitution  of  the  government.  [Renewed  applause.]  To-day, 
she  could  send  more  than  half  a  million  men  to  another  war,  if  it  were  neces 
sary,  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  same  purpose.  [Continued  applause.] 

I  once  spent  a  winter  in  the  city  of*  Boston,  and  while  there  became  ac 
quainted  with  a  quaint  old  philosopher.  After  he  learned  I  was  from  Ohio,  he 
seemed  to  take  a  good  deal  of  interest  in  talking  to  me  about  my  State,  and  the 
products  of  my  State,  and  especially  the  great  men  she  had  produced.  He  told 
me  on  one  occasion,  that  he  had  figured  out  a  reason  why  Kentucky  and  Ohio 
had  produced  such  wonderful  men,  and  then  he  mentioned  Clay  and  Marshall 
and  others,  of  Kentucky,  together  with  a  score  of  men  from  Ohio,  whom  he  re 
garded  as  among  the  world's  leaders,  and  his  reason  was,  that  there  was  some 
thing  in  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  River  conducive  to  the  production  of  great  men, 
[great  laughter  ;]  and  argue  as  I  would,  I  never  could  convince  him,  that  in  Ohio 
at  least,  we  had  something  more  potent  in  the  production  of  men  than  the  muddy 
waters  of  the  Ohio.  [Renewed  laughter  and  applause.] 

I  trust  that  the  distinguished  gentlemen,  who  are  here  as  representatives  from 
the  other  great  States  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  will  feel  that  I  am  within  the 
limits  of  propriety  when  I  claim  for  my  State,  that  she  was  not  only  first  in  the 
order  of  time  in  the  Northwest  Territory,  but  that  she  had  maintained  that  posi 
tion  in  other  respects,  and  still  maintains  it  [continued  applause,]  and  if  they 
will  promise  not  to  get  mad  at  me,  I  will  go  a  little  further  and  say,  that  we  in 
tend  always  to  maintain  it.  [Renewed  applause.] 

In  this  Territory  there  is  now  a  population  of  fifteen  millions  of  people. 
One  city  alone  contains  almost  a  million  inhabitants,  and  five  other  cities  aggre 
gate  more  than  a  million  within  their  population.  In  it  is  a  manufacturing  es 
tablishment,  in  which  a -reaping-machine  is  made  every  seventy  seconds,  and 
there  is  not  a  wheat-producing  country  in  the  world  in  which  there  is  not  used  a 
machine  made  in  the  valleys  of  Ohio.  [Applause.] 

Wonderful  indeed  has  been  the  progress  and  development  of  our  State  in 
these  one  hundred  years.  Not  only  in  material  matters,  but  also  in  the  depart 
ments  of  science,  and  art  and  law.  It  was  sixty  years  after  the  adoption  of  the 
Ordinance  of  1787,  before  a  colored  person  could  testify  in  our  courts,  and  what 
may  strike  you  as  still  more  astonishing  is,  that  it  was  seventy-five  years  after  the 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  26  I 


adoption  of  that  Ordinance,  before  any  person,  white  or  colored,  could  testify  in 
his  own  behalf,  in  the  courts  of  this  State,  in  a  criminal  case.  He  might  have 
been  indicted  for  murder,  and  by  his  evidence  truthfully  given,  acquitted  himself, 
and  yet  the  laws  which  were  then  in  force  in  Ohio,  would  not  permit  the  courts 
to  receive  his  testimony.  Such  laws,  I  assure  you,  no  longer  exist. 

We  have  made  great  progress  in  our  legal  system  in  another  respect,  and  it 
is  this:  One  hundred  years  ago,  and  for  a  long  time  thereafter  (and  I  know  the 
ladies  will  appreciate  what  I  am  going  to  say),  when  a  woman  married,  every 
thing  she  had  belonged  absolutely  to  her  husband  the  moment  the  minister  or 
'squire  got  through  with  the  ceremony.  [Laughter.]  I  know  some  men  who 
wish  that  was  the  law  now,  [renewed  laughter,]  but  perhaps  it  is  a  good  thing  for 
them  that  it  is  not.  We  became  more  intelligent  by  and  by  and  changed  that 
law.  We  turned  our  backs  upon  the  common  law  system  of  England  and  passed 
a  statute  of  our  own,  more  in  keeping,  more  in  harmony  and  more  in  sympathy 
with  the  enlightened  and  progressive  spirit  of  the  age,  a  statute  which  provided 
that  whatever  belonged  to  a  woman  when  she  married,  remained  and  shall  re 
main  absolutely  hers  to  do  with  as  she  pleases.  [Great  cheering.]  That  statute 
is  still  in  force,  and  I  trust  will  forever  remain  in  force  in  this  State. 

And  now,  my  fellow-citizens,  I  say  to  you,  and  to  you,  Governor  [turning  to 
Gov.  Foraker]  as  the  presiding  officer  on  this  Ohio  Day,  that  for  one  I  am  glad 
that  there  is  no  longer  a  Northwest  Territory,  and  that  there  is  no  Southwest 
Territory  ;  that  there  is  no  Northeast  Territory  and  no  Southeast  Territory,  but 
in  their  place  there  is  one  vast  and  unbroken  and  boundless  Union  everywhere, 
from  ocean  to  ocean.  [Applause.] 

I  am  thankful  for  the  civilization  that  came  from  Jamestown  ;  I  am  thankful 
for  the  civilization  that  came  from  Plymouth  Rock,  and  I  am  more  thankful  for 
that  higher  and  better  civilization  which  came  as  the  result  of  blending  together 
and  uniting  the  civilizations  of  Jamestown  and  Plymouth  Rock,  that  grandest 
and  best  and  highest  civilization  in  America,  the  civilization  of  Ohio.  [Great 
applause.]  And  I  am  thankful  also  that  over  Ohio  and  all  over  this  Union  there 
floats  one  flag  as  the  emblem  of  one  people  and  one  nation,  [renewed  applause,] 
and  that  flag  must  float  forever  and  forever,  representing  America  everywhere 
and  America  always.  [Continued  applause.] 


Gov.  Foraker :  I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to. 
you,  as  the  next  speaker  of  the  afternoon,  the  Hon.  John  C. 
Lee,  of  Toledo,  ex-Lieutenant-Governor  of  Ohio.  [Applause.] 


262  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


/\ddress   of  j~Ior\.   JoKr\   G.   Lee, 


OF  TOLEDO. 


MR.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  We  have  been  admonished 
that  we  are  approaching  the  end  of  this  great  centennial  occasion.  That  admo 
nition  has  been  announced  by  the  different  speakers  to  you  for  the  last  two  days, 
and  I  want  you  to  understand  that  I  am  going  to  deny  the  assertion.  It  is  not 
true.  We  are  not  approaching  the  end  of  this  centennial  anniversary.  It  may 
be  that  the  speaking  from  this  platform  will  terminate  with  this  day,  but  the 
celebration  of  this  great  event  is  one  that  will  go  on  in  the  minds  and  the  hearts 
and  in  the  memory  of  the  people  of  Ohio,  and  of  Connecticut,  and  of  Massachu 
setts,  and  of  Indiana,  and  of  Illinois,  and  of  Wisconsin,  and  of  Michigan,  and  of 
Virginia,  and  of  the.  entire  nation  for  one  hundred  years  to  come.  [Applause.] 
We  may  some  of  us  get  in  a  hurry  to  go  to  the  races  up  the  river  here  this  after 
noon,  [laughter],  but  that  is  no  evidence  that  we  are  going  to  terminate  the  cen 
tennial  observance  of  the  settlement  of  the  Territory  of  the  Northwest,  in  April, 
1788.  Every  speaker  that  has  preceded  me,  except  my  friend  Watson,  has  told 
you  that  the  whole  field  has  been  covered  and  that  nothing  new  was  left  to  be 
said,  leaving  it  to  be  understood  that  perhaps  out  of  the  old  dough  there  might 
be  some  sort  of  a  cake  fixed  up  in  a  new  shape.  [Laughter.]  But  my  friend 
Watson  did  not  say  so,  and  he  proved  the  falsity  of  the  statement. 

Now,  if  I  do  not  mistake  what  I  am  going  to  say,  I  am  going  to  keep  off  of 
beaten  tracks;  but  if  any  of  you  are  thinking  of  leaving  I  would  advise  you  not 
to  do  so,  because  you  may  miss  something  that  is  worth  hearing.  [Laughter.] 

According  to  the  best  accepted  histories,  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  oc 
curred  in  1781,  and  with  that  the  aggressive  military  operations  of  the  revolution 
ceased.  In  1783  peace  was  concluded  and  the  treaty  signed  between  the  united 
thirteen  States  oh  the  one  side  ar.d  the  British  government  on  the  other.  It 
took,  Mr.  President,  two  years  to  consummate  and  formulate  and  certify  up  that 
treaty  of  peace.  We  would  do  it  now  in  ten  days,  doing  the  major  part  of  it  by 
telegram  under  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  The  British  Army  of  Occupation  continued 
in  possession  of  New  York  City  until  after  this  treaty  of  peace  of  1783.  That  fall, 
in  October,  it  marched  out,  went  on  shipboard  and  sailed  back  to  England  to  join 
in  the  wars  that  were  threatened  in  that  country.  But  our  work  was  only  begun. 

At  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum,  in  1786,  Fort  Harmar  was  established, 
named  after  one  of  the  officers  of  the  Revolution.  In  1788  the  landing  of  the 
Marietta  Colony  occurred.  On  the  I5th  of  July,  1788,  on  the  very  ground  where 
this  Centennial  Hall  stands  to-day,  was  inaugurated  the  first,  the  initial  form  of 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       263 


civil  government  for  the  great  Northwest.  Think  of  it !  On  this  very  ground 
where  you  and  I  are  to-day,  that  great  and  holy  event  took  place,  and  Governor 
St.  Clair  become  the  original  predecessor  of  the  worthy  Governor  who  sits  upon 
this  platform  to-day.  [Applause.]  He,  too,  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary 
War ;  well  known  to  President  Washington,  not  yet  then  inaugurated,  but  no 
doubt  he  would  be  so  soon  as  the  first  President  should  be  chosen.  He  was 
chosen  in  1788,  entered  upon  his  office  in  February  of  1789,  and  took  his  seat 
formally  in  April  of  that  year.  The  4th  of  March  was  a  little  too  stormy ;  the 
weather  a  little  too  bad  for  the  inauguration.  The  next  year,  1/90,  witnessed  a 
certain  event  to  which  I  shall  first  call  your  attention. 

Gen.  Harmar,  from  whom  this  Fort  was  named,  was  designated  by  Washing 
ton  to  gather  an  army,  and  with  it  to  proceed  down  to  where  Cincinnati  now  is, 
which  was  called  Losantiville,  but* soon  thereafter  became  known  as  Fort  Wash 
ington  ;  and  from  that  point  he  was  directed  in  such  manner  as  his  military  judg 
ment  and  experience  should  indicate,  to  proceed  up  along  the  waters  of  the  Miami 
to  their  source,  and  thence  across  the  portage  between  that  and  the  head  waters 
of  the  St.  Joe  and  the  St.  Mary's  to  the  Auglaize,  ta  search  out  the  whereabouts 
of  the  invading  Indian  tribes  that  had  been  doing  so  much  mischief  upon  the 
frontier — not  here  but  elsewhere.  Gen.  Harmar  went.  Before  he  went,  he  re 
ceived  from  President  Washington  a  very  important  admonition.  It  will  be  re 
membered  that  President  Washington,  in  the  army  that  invaded  or  attempted  to 
invade  the  French  and  Indian  domain  at  Pittsburgh  in  1754,  under  Braddock, 
suffered  a  very  signal  defeat.  I  am  not  sure  about  that  date  now — 

Gen.  Ewing :     '55. 

Mr.  Lee  :  '55 — very  well ;  near  enough.  I  am  within  twelve  months  of  it. 
That  is  nearer  than  some  get  in  remembering  the  time  their  notes  fall  due. 
[Laughter.] 

He  had  an  experience  there  that  taught  him  that  surprises  and  ambushes 
were  very  dangerous  things  in  Indian  warfare,  when  there  was  a  red-skin  in  the 
neighborhood,  and  he  admonished  Gen.  Harmar  by  all  means  to  look  out  and  not 
allow  himself  to  be  either  ambushed  or  surprised.  He  started  from  Fort  Wash 
ington,  or  Cincinnati,  as  it  is  now,  went  up  aline  that  is  nearly  that  of  the  western 
boundary  line  of  Ohio,  until  he  struck  the  head  waters  of  the  St.  Mary's  River ; 
then  followed  these  waters  up  to  what  is  now  Fort  Wayne,  and  there  at  the  junc 
tion  of  the  St.  Mary's  and  the  St.  Joe,  which  conspire  to  form  the  Maumee — now 
I  have  got  to  the  Maumee  and  I  am  going  to  keep  you  on  it  for  some  time,  or 
until  the  Governor  pulls  my  coat  tail.  [Laughter.] 

When  he  got  to  the  Maumee  he  saw  tracks  of  the  Indians.  He  had  under 
him  soldiers  mainly  from  Kentucky — some  from  Pennsylvania,  some  from  Vir 
ginia,  and  among  them  was  a  Col.  Hardin  from  Kentucky.  They  believed  that 
the  Indians  were  divided — a  part  in  one  division  and  part  in  another.  Hardin, 
in  his  impetuosity,  desired  leave  to  take  a  detachment  of  the  army  and  go  out 


264  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


and  give  battle  to  one  of  these  sections.  He  went,  and  he  came  out  of  that  scrape 
a  good  deal  as  the  fellow  did  that  undertook  to  take  old  John  Brown,  out  in 
Kansas.  The  only  miscarriage  in  the  thing  was  that  Brown  took  him.  [Laughter.] 
Hardin  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Indians,  and  he  and  his  command  suffered  de 
feat  and  subsequent  massacre.  Gen.  Harmar,  thinking  to  recover  the  loss  that 
Hardin  had  met,  turned  his  steps  in  that  direction  to  meet  Hardin,  but  he  found 
between  him  and  Hardin  an  interposing  column  under  the  command  of  that  great 
leader  of  the  combined  dozen  of  Indian  nations,  Little  Turtle,  at  a  ford  on  the 
Maumee,  about  a  half  a  mile  below  the  junction  of  the  St.  Joe  and  the  St.  Mary's, . 
and  there,  in  1790,  was  it  that  Gen.  Harmar  was  also  surprised  and  signally  de 
feated,  with  a  loss  of  over  fifty  per  cent,  of  his  entire  military  command.  He 
then  believed  retreat  the  better  part  of  valor,  betook  himself  backward  on  the 
line  on  which  he  had  marcted  up,  until  he  had  reached  Greenville,  now  the  county 
seat  of  Darke  county,  of  our  State,  and  there  he  made  a  halt  and  subsequently 
left  the  field. 

Washington,  not  pleased  with  that  result,  being  satisfied  that  Harmar  had 
forgotten  his  admonition  in  respect  to  ambush  and  surprise,  gave  instructions  to 
good  old  Governor  St.  Clair,  then  having  his  headquarters  here,  to  collect  an  army 
and  proceed  over  substantially  the  same  route,  seek  out  the  Indians,  and  suppress 
the  invasions  upon  the  white  settlements.  Washington  emphasized  his  instruc 
tions  to  him  concerning  ambush  and  surprise,  warned  him  of  the  misfortune  that 
had  befallen  Gen.  Harmar,  and  admonished  him  to  especially  remember  that  fact. 

Well,  he  went,  and  in  1792,  two  years  thereafter,  he  got  around  to  what  is 
now  Greenville,  and  there  he  was  looking  around  to  see  about  where  he  was,  or 
whether  there  was  any  enemy  in  sight,  thinking  that  he  would  have  to  march  at 
least  to  the  headwaters  of  the  streams  that  emptied  into  Lake  Erie  before  en 
countering  them.  But,  lo!  and  behold!  at  the  hour  of  four  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing,  totally  unprepared  by  anything  of  a  precedent  character,  he  found  himself 
beset  and  surprised,  and  surprised  completely,  by  that  wary  leader  of  the  Indian 
tribes  to  which  I  have  referred.  He,  too,  was  defeated ;  his  army  was  substan 
tially  annihilated,  and  without  stopping  to  bid  the  Indians  good-bye,  he  and  his 
surviving  comrades  betook  themselves  back  to  Fort  Washington,  now  Cincinnati. 
Special  messengers  were  put  on  horseback,  to  convey  the  intelligence  from  Gov. 
St.  Clair  to  His  Excellency,  President  Washington. 

It  is  narrated  by  one  who  was  present  when  the  message  came  to  the  presi 
dential  chair,  that  when  Gen.  Washington  read  it,  he  threw  it  down  and  turned 
and  paced  back  and  forth  in  anger  ;  and  it  is  almost  irreverent  to  believe,  that 
the  great  father  of  our  country  could  do  such  a  thing,  but  he  gave  expression,  in 
unmistakable  terms,  of  his  disapproval  of  Gov.  St.  Clair's  action  in  disregarding 
his  instructions  concerning  ambush  and  surprises,  and  it  is  said  that  he  even  used 
expletives  that  we  do  not  now  ordinarily  use  in  Sunday  School  addresses. 
[Laughter.] 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       265 


Something  had  to  be  done  ;  the  white  settlements  were  in  terror;  they  were 
afraid  to  stay  where  they  were.  All  advance  was  put  in  check ;  block-houses 
were  regarded  as  insufficient  protection,  and  appeals  went,  as  fast  as  they  could 
be  carried  at  that  time,  to  President  Washington,  demanding  immediate  protec 
tion  from  the  Indians.  He  thought  over  his  list  of  old  Revolutionary  Generals  ; 
the  public  thought  them  over,  and  by*  a  common  consensus  of  the  people  and 
the  President,  the  name  of  that  gallant  man,  Anthony  Wayne,  was  settled  upon 
to  lead  the  hosts  of  the  Nation.  [Applause.]  He  had  already  achieved  distinc 
tion  in  his  career  as  a  Revolutionary  General ;  and  I  have  thought  that  if  it  were 
possible  to  produce  in  modern  days,  clearly  and  fully  a  reproduction  of  Old  Mad 
Anthony  Wayne,  it  was  to  be  found  in  gallant  Little  Phil.  Sheridan  of  Ohio. 
[Great  applause.]  And  here  I  pause  to  invoke  the  prayers  of  the  people  of 
Ohio  and  of  the  Northwest,  that  they  may  proceed  like  a  procession  of  angles  to 
the  throne  of  God  himself,  for  the  sparing  of  the  life  of  Phil.  Sheridan.  [Pro 
longed  applause.] 

Anthony  Wayne,  from  his  Pennsylvania  home,  responded.  As  he  came 
through  Pittsburgh,  he  issued  a  call  for  troops.  There  was  organized  and  sent 
to  him,  the  Pittsburgh  Blues.  No,  I  have  the  name  wrong — no  matter  what. 
There  came  some  from  Pittsburgh  ;  others  from  Virginia  ;  others  from  Kentucky, 
and  some  that  had  already  become  inhabitants  of  the  lower  part  of  Indiana,  in 
the  year  or  two  that  had  elapsed  since  the  invasion  first  by  Harmar.  He  knew 
something  about  the  Indians.  In  the  first  place  he  went  to  Fort  Washington 
and  there  organized  his  army,  and  in  1795,  getting  it  into  good  position,  and  that 
year  went  nearly  as  far  north  as  Greenville,  but  he  did  not  accomplish  anything 
certain  there  that  year.  Early  in  the  spring  of  1794,  he  appeared  again  at  Green 
ville,  and  marched  out  from  Greenville  to  what  is  now  the  southwest  portion  of 
Mercer  county,  Ohio,  and  what  is  now  known  as  Fort  Recovery,  and  prior  to  that 
time  was  known  as  the  bloody  battle-field  on  which  the  poor  soldiers  of  St.  Clair 
had  been  massacred,  was  established.  There  he  inspired  his- army  with  his  first 
great  act  for  the  protection  of  the  people  of  the  Northwest,  and  that  first  great 
act  was  strikingly  characteristic  of  him.  He  said,  "  Here,  where  the  blood  of 
our  brothers  has  enriched  the  ground,  we  will  make  our  first  stand  ;  we  will  here 
erect  a  fort,  and  we  will  not  be  surprised  or  ambushed  hereafter."  The  soldiers 
went  to  work  and  constructed  it,  and  the  outlines  and  other  evidences  of  it  yet 
remain.  There,  having  got  it  done,  he  convened  the  army  and  said  to  them : 
"  This  is  the  place  where  St.  Clair  was  defeated.  We  have  recovered  that  ground  ; 
we  will  hold  it,  and  the  aame  of  this  fort  will  be  Fort  Recovery."  [Applause.] 
And  it  was.  He  left  a  garrison  in  it.  He  went  back  to  Cincinnati.  He  gathered 
kis  army,  and  then  he  started  northwest  on  a  more  easterly  line,  and  proceeded, 
pausing  not  on  the  road,  until  he  struck  the  head  waters  of  the  Auglaize,  and 
then  following  that  down,  he  came  to  the  junction  of  the  Auglaize  and  the 
Maumee,  at  what  is  now  the  city  of  Defiance.  He  reached  there  in  the  early 


266  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


days  of  August,  1794.  He  paused  there,  and  there  he  built  a  fort.  You  can  see 
it  yet.  It  evinces  good  engineering.  It  is  right  at  the  junction  of  the  two 
streams ;  and  when  he  had  built  it,  the  same  inspiring,  hopeful,  determined  spirit 
of  success,  led  him  to  give  that  fort  the  name  of  "  Defiance."  In  that,  he  left  a 
small  command,  and  proceeded  down  the  river.  He  got  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  the  combined  nations  of  warriors  under  Little  Turtle.  They  knew  it.  Little 
Turtle  had  been  hovering  on  his  flank,  and  had  been  watching  his  movements. 
By  the  way,  Little  Turtle  was  one  of  the  most  accomplished  of  all  the  savage 
leaders  of  all  periods.  He  was  not  equaled  even  by  Tecumseh,  that  fell  at  the 
battle  of  the  Thames  in  Canada.  He  then  crossed  over  the  river  on  to  the  north 
western  side  with  his  army,  and  proceeded  down  the  river  cautiously.  You  may 
remember  that  Defiance  is  about  fifty-five  miles  up  the  river  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Maumee.  When  he  had  got  down  within  twenty  miles  of  Toledo,  without 
yet  having  any  fight,  but  having  considerable  skirmishing  with  the  Indians,  he 
found  a  safe  place  in  which  to  leave  his  teams,  and  his  supply  wagons  and  ammu 
nition  wagons,  and  he  strengthened  it  a  little,  and  called  that  Fort  Deposit, 
because  of  the  use  he  made  of  it.  It  bears  to-day  the  name  of  Roche  de  Beuf. 
Leaving  a  small  guard  there,  with  his  troops  he  crowded  on  down  the  river. 
Most  of  his  troops  were  mounted,  and  the  Indians  gave  way,  but  finally  took  up 
a  position  between  Waterville  and  Maumee  City,  where  a  tornado  had  felled  the 
timber,  and  behind  a  windrow  of  timber  the  warriors  of  those  nations  took  posi 
tion. 

I  should  say  that  on  the  night  preceding  this,  which  was  the  2Oth  of  August 
1794,  in  an  Indian  Council,  Little  Turtle  objected  to  making  a  stand,  telling  them 
that  if  they  did  he  believed  that  Wayne  would  destroy  them.  He  was  for  ne 
gotiating  for  peace.  But  the  young  warriors  were  against  him,  and  especially 
leading  them  was  young  Turkey  Foot,  a  splendid-looking,  tall  Indian,  and  he 
volunteered  to  suggest  to  Little  Turtle  that  he  was  not  as  brave  as  he  ought  to 
be.  Little  Turtle  said,  "Let  Turkey  Foot  lead  you ;  I  will  step  down ;  let  him 
fight  your  battle."  They  agreed  to  it.  It  was  done,  and  when  the  whirlwind  of 
Mad  Anthony  Wayne  came  upon  them,  he  routed  them  and  drove  them  from 
their  position,  and  they  went  fleeing,  some  of  them  into  the  Maumee,  and  others 
fell  under  the  fierce  fire  from  Wayne's  men.  It  is  said  that  Turkey  Foot  himself, 
mounted  upon  a  rock,  which  I  have  often  seen  there,  attempted  to  stay  and  rally 
his  fleeing  warriors,  and  while  he  was  there  upon  that  rock,  he  was  shot  and  fell 
at  its  base.  Wayne  pursued  them.  They  fled  on  down  the  river  from  what  is 
now  Maumee  City  to  Fort  Miami,  about  six  miles  south  of  what  is  now  the  city 
of  Toledo.  Fort  Miami  is  a  fort  that  is  yet  very  well  marked  and  distinct,  oc 
cupying  a  very  beautiful  place.  It  was  then  occupied  by  Major  Campbell,  a 
British  officer,  on  that  too  then  American  territory.  The  Indians  took  refuge  behind 
the  guns  of  that  Fort.  Wayne  sought  to  clean  them  out,  but  Campbell  objected. 
Sharp  notes  passed  between  the  two  officers,  but  Wayne  finally  concluded  to 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       267 


let  him  alone,  and  went  on  down  to  where  Toledo  now  is,  at  the  mouth  of  Swan 
Creek,  and  there  following  the  admonitions  and  teachings  of  Washington,  he 
erected  a  fort,  and  because  he  did  it  so  quickly  and  so  thoroughly,  it  took  the 
name  of  Fort  Industry.  He  left  a  command  there  and  returned  again  up  the 
river.  He  then  gathered  up  the  troops  and  supplies  that  he  had  left  at  Fort 
Deposit,  and  then  went  up  to  the  head  of  the  Maumee  river  at  what  is  now  Fort 
Wayne.  That  was  the  place  where  Harmar  had  been  defeated.  He  put  his  men 
to  work  there,  and  in  October  of  the  same  year  he  built  the  fort  that  is  there 
now,  or  was  there  until  recently,  and  withdrew  them  with  the  greater  part  of  his 
army  down  to  Greenville.  He  left  Major  Hamtramck  in  command,  who  named 
the  fort  Fort  Wayne,  after  General  Wayne  had  left,  naming  it  after  his  dis 
tinguished  General,  and  it  has  borne  the  name  of  Fort  Wayne  from  that  time 
until  this,  and  the  city  is  known  as  Fort  Wayne.  [Applause.]  That  ended  the 
war  with  the  Indian  tribes — that  battle  in  August  of  1794.  This  colony  was 
then  six  years  old,  and  that  line  of  defense,  that  Wayne  erected,  beginning  at 
Fort  Washington,  or  Cincinnati,  and  running  through  Greenville,  to  Fort  Wayne 
thence  down  the  Maumee  to  Toledo,  connecting  there  with  the  Lake,  was  a- 
barrier  over  which  the  Indian  troops  never  could  pass  to  molest  this  colony  or 
any  other  in  Ohio. 

Now,  that  is  not  the  end  of  it.  Before  he  left,  he  fell  into  communication 
with  Little  Turtle,  and  he  arranged  for  a  convention  of  the  Indian  tribes  the 
next  year  down  at  Greenville.  They  met  there  in  1795,  and  there  was  established 
the  great  treaty  between  the  government  and  the  Indian  nations.  In  that  treaty 
13  tribes  were  interested.  Little  Turtle  conducted  the  negotiations  on  the  part 
of  the  Indian  tribes;  and  if  I  had  time,  I  would  be  glad  to  read  you  that  treaty. 
It  evinces  a  degree  of  diplomacy  quite  equal  to  anything  that  had  been  known 
outside  of  the  civilized  nations  up  to  that  time  on  the  part  of  Little  Turtle.  He 
secured  peace  on  one  side  for  his  people;  had  their  rights  well  defined,  and  Gen. 
WTayne,  in  behalf  of  the  white  people,  established  likewise  their  rights.  From, 
that  time  on,  Ohio  was  free  from  organized  Indian  incursions  until  the  malig 
nancy  and  devilishness  of  the  British  Government  in  1811  put  them  on  foot 
again. 

Now,  I  will  pass  from  that ;  but  before  so  doing,  I  will  pause  to  refer  to  one 
other  incident  of  interest.  You  will  remember  that  later  than  1788  there  was  a 
Governor  of  this  territory  by  the  name  of  William  Henry  Harrison  [applause], . 
located  at  Vincennes,  Indiana.  That  man  was  a  staff  officer  of  Old  Mad  Anthony 
Wayne* during  the  years  '93  and  '94,  and  he  was  in  that  battle  of  the  Fallen  Tim 
ber,  or,  as  we  call  it  sometimes,  Turkey  Foot  Rock.  He  knew  a  little  about  In 
dians  ;  he  was  not  surprised,  nor  did  he  fall  into  an  ambush. 

While  Governor  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  with  headquarters  at  Vincennes,. 
in  1811,  I  think,  he  made  his  expedition  against  what  he  supposed  was  Tecumseh 
and  his  brother,  the  Indian  Prophet,  believed  to  be  located  on  the  Tippecanoe,  in 
the  northern  part  of  Indiana.  Harrison  struck  the  Indians  under  the  command 
of  Tecumseh's  brother,  the  Prophet,  and  he  gave  them  what,  according  to  tht 


.268  REPORT    OF     THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


tradition  of  the  people,  which  was  very  generally  entertained  way  back  as  early 
as  1840,  and  even  now  sometimes  suspected  to  be  true,  such  a  threshing  as  is  em 
bodied  in  the  old  phrase  "  Tippecanoe."  [Applause.] 

The  next  year  the  war  of  '12  arose,  between  the  British  government  and  the 
United  States.  We  had  whipped  the  mother  government,  and  we  had  secured 
by  treaty  our  rights  on  land,  but  when  we  came  to  the  seas,  they  disputed  the 
terms  of  that  treaty  and  our  rights.  They  were  opposed  to  giving  us  what  we 
called  "sailor's  rights,"  and  out  of  that  sprang  the  war  of  1812.  The  Indians 
were  resorted  to  by  the  armies  of  the  British  that  were  in  the  northwest,  and  they 
were  commanded  by  Gen.  Proctor.  He  made  incursions  and  attacks  upon  the 
new  settlements.  Tecumseh,  their  leader,  joined  with  Gen.  Proctor,  in  invading 
the  American  territory.  That  same  Gen.  Harrison,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year 
1812,  was  put  in  command  of  the  armies  of  the  northwest. 

I  will  not  stop  to  detail  the  unfortunate  transaction  of  Gen.  Hull,  in  which 
he  surrendered  the  first  army  of  the  northwest  that  was  put  under  his  command, 
but  will  hasten  at  once  to  the  further  operations  within  Ohio. 

Gen.  Harrison  having  gathered  an  army,  appeared  with  it  at  Fort  Meigs, 
which  is  on  the  Maumee  at  Perrysburg,  nine  miles  above  Toledo,  and  there,  in 
February,  1813,  he  began  the  construction  of  that  fort.  It  embraced  an  area  of 
about  ten  acres.  In  May  of  the  same  year,  he  was  attacked  by  the  British  and 
the  Indians  under  Proctor  and  Tecumseh,  but  he  repelled  successfully  that  attack 
and  they  withdrew. 

Again,  in  July  of  the  same  year,  the  same  attack  was  renewed  by  the  same 
forces,  and  again  was  he  successful  in  repelling  them,  and  Proctor  and  Tecumseh 
betook  themselves  back  to  Canadian  soil.  On  the  second  of  August,  very  shortly 
thereafter,  Fort  Stephenson,  formerly  Lower  Sandusky,  was  attacked  and  success 
fully  defended  by  him.  You  remember  all  the  incidents  of  that  gallant  defense. 

On  the  loth  of  December,  Commodore  Perry,  a  gallant  son  of  Rhode  Island, 
then  about  28  years  of  age,  was  attacked  by  the  British  fleet  on  Lake  Erie,  off 
the  mouth  of  Portage  River,  and  he  administered  to  that  invading  fleet  not  only 
a  threshing,  but  extermination.  [Applause.]  He  then  took  Harrison's  army, 
which  proceeded  to  the  mouth  of  the  Portage,  across  Lake  Erie  and  planted  it 
on  Canadian  soil.  Harrison  pursued  the  enemy,  overtook  them  nearly  opposite 
Detroit,  and  gave  them  their  final  threshing  there. 

These  are  the  operations  in  brief,  that  were  carried  on  of  a  military  character 
in  the  Northwest,  whereby  the  Marietta  colony,  whereby  the  Western  Reserve 
colonies,  and  whereby  all  the  colonies  from  Virginia,  Pennsylvania  and  Connec 
ticut  were  preserved  and  peace  and  safety  secured  for  them  in  their  homes. 

Now,  my  fellow-citizens,  I  am  not  going  to  detain  you  any  longer,  but  I  want 
you  to  remember  one  thing :  when  any  of  you  attend  the*  next  Centennial — I  am 
not  sure  that  anybody  will  unless  it  is  the  old  gentleman  Fearing,  that  is  now 
between  ninety  and  a  hundred,  and  has  learned  just  how  to  live  [laughter] — there 
.is  one  thing  I  want  you  to  remember,  and  that  is,  that  in  that  Centennial  my  old 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       269 


Maumee  home  must  have  a  part.  [Applause.]  I  want  you  to  remember  that  the 
name  of  Mad  Anthony  Wayne  shall  form  a  part.  I  want  you  to  remember  that 
William  Henry  Harrison  shall  have  a  part.  [Great  applause.]  I  want  you  to  re 
member  that  at  the  junction  of  the  St.  Joe  and  St.  Mary's  begins  a  stream  whose 
waters  wash  more  historic  ground,  bloody  with  the  sacrifices  of  American  soldiery 
in  defense  of  the  people  against  the  combined  efforts  of  the  Indians  and  the 
British,  than  any  other  stream  in  the  Northwest  Territory.  [Prolonged  applause.] 

Now,  I  am  in  favor  of  this  Centennial,  and  always  have  been.  I  was  in  favor 
of  it  before  I  heard  of  it,  and  I  shall  be  in  favor  of  every  other  of  this  kind. 
Ohio  is  a  great  State,  and  it  is  a  great  big  thing  to  be  born  in  Ohio.  [Laughter.] 
If  anybody  lacks  judgment  and  sense  enough  to  enjoy  that  fact,  I  suppose  they 
are  not  responsible  for  it;  they  are  simply  to  be  pitied.  [Renewed  laughter.] 

We  welcome  here,  with  open  arms  and  hands,  Massachusetts ;  we  say,  "  all 
hail"  to  Connecticut;  we  say,  "come  to  us,"  to  New  York;  to  the  old  mother  of 
Presidents,  we  say,  "  walk  into  our  midst ;  "  and  if  I  could,  I  would  be  glad  to 
ask  you  to  give  a  word  of  loud  cheer  for  that  orator  of  Old  Virginia,  who  stood 
here  yesterday  as  a  splendid  representative  of  the  liberty  loving  independence  of 
Old  Virginia  (Senator  Daniel).  [Loud  cheering.] 

And  when  I  saw  the  great  Senator  from'  New  York  (Senator  Evarts),  and 
heard  him  adding  his  great  name  and  fame  to  the  success  of  this  Celebration ; 
and  when  I  saw  our  distinguished  Senator  from  Ohio,  John  Sherman,  the  tallest 
of  them  all  [applause],  and  when  I  have  seen  our  gallant  Governor  [loud  cheer 
ing],  all  adding  their  presence  and  eloquence  to  the  success  of  this  Celebration, 
I  cannot  wonder  that  it  is  such  a  grand  success.  The  only  trouble  with  the  Gov 
ernor  is,  I  am  afraid  he  is  going  to  live  with  you.  [Laughter.]  When  I  see  all 
this  and  that,  it  is  all  done  in  the  name  of  American  history,  in  the  name  of  the 
Nation's  great  progress,  in  the  name  of  American  Christian  civilization,  in  the 
name  of  the  five  great  States,  carved  out  of  the  domain  that  was  brought  into 
civil  life  under  the  auspices  of  the  Ordinance  of  '87.  I  say  to  myself  I  am  proud 
of  my  race.  I  don't  care  where  a  man  comes  from  ;  it  don't  make  any  difference 
where  you  were  born.  It  is  better  to  be  born,  as  I  have  said,  in  Ohio,  (and  I 
don't  want  you  to  forget  it)  [laughter],  but  I  am  in  favor  of  men  born  everywhere. 
I  care  not  whether  it  shall  have  been  in  the  snows  of  the  north,  or  the  Torrid 
Zone  of  the  south  ;  whether  it  shall  have  been  away  off  in  distant  Africa,  or 
upon  the  tops  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  the  man  appears  before  me  bearing 
the  image  of  God,  I  will  say  to  him  "  You  are  my  brother ;  you  are  my  co-worker 
in  the  great  work  of  life ;  you  are  a  co-laborer  in  the  great  work  of  the  advance 
ment  of  civilization,  and  in  the  assertion  of  individual  rights  and  individual 
liberty." 

And  now  (as  I  understand  I  am  making  the  last  speech  on  this  Centennial 
occasion),  I  say  to  you,  that  I  hope  you  will  carry  home  in  your  hearts,  a  recollec 
tion  of  all  the  facts,  and  all  the  events  that  have  been  brought  to  your  notice 


270  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF     THE 


here,  and  before  we  shall  separate,  we  shall  have  that  which  is  characteristic  of 
every  good  American  citizen  that  I  know  of,  and  that  is  to  mingle  our  voices  in 
three  times  three  cheers  for  ourselves  [laughter],  and  for  the  country  and  every 
thing  else  we  can  think  of.  [Renewed  laughter.] 


Three  resounding  cheers  were  then  given  by  the  immense 
audience,  after  which  Governor  Foraker  made  the  following" 
announcement: 

I  am  sorry  to  have  to  announce  to  the  audience  that  the 
other  gentlemen  who  are  advertised  to  address  you  this  after 
noon,  are  not  present.  [Cries  of  "  Foraker  ;  "  "  Foraker ; '' 
' 'Speech;"  "Speech."] 

We  have,  I  was  about  to  say,  some  other  exercises,  how 
ever,  which  are  a  part  of  the  conclusion  of  this  celebration* 
which  we  now  desire  to  proceed  with.  Among  other  things, 
the  ladies  want  to  have  the  gavel  that  was  presented  to  General 
Ewing  yesterday  morning,  to  be  used  by  him  as  President  of 
yesterday's  exercises,  and  which  is  to  be  used  by  a  similar  offi 
cer  one  hundred  years  from  now,  sealed  up  in  your  presence, 
according  to  the  advertisement  which  they  made  in  that  respect, 
and  that  ceremony  is  now  in  order. 

While  the  persons  in  charge  are  getting  ready  for  that  cer 
emony,  I  have  an  announcement  to  make  to  the  audience.  I 
hold  in  my  hand  a  little  book  that  has  been  prepared  for  use 
in  connection  with  this  occasion.  It  is  entitled  the  Ordinance 
of  1787,  and  it  has  printed  with  that  ordinance  a  number  of 
other  important  historical  documents,  and  some  important  ex- 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  271 

tracts  from  Bancroft's  comments  upon  the  event  and  the  results 
flowing  therefrom,  which  we  have,  been  celebrating. 

The  object  of  this  occasion  was  not  only  to  have  a  good 
time  here,  but  to  instruct  people  generally  with  respect  to  this 
event.  I  do  not  know  any  better  way  for  people  to  get  instruc 
tion  in  regard  to  this  event  than  by  getting  this  book  and  car 
rying  it  home  with  you,  to  be  read  by  you  and  your  children, 
and  by  your  sisters,  your  cousins,  and  your  aunts.  It  can  be 
obtained  from  the  office  in  front  of  this  building  at  the  trifling 
cost  of  ten  cents,  in  which  there  is  no  profit  whatever,  but  only 
represents  a  proportionate  part  of  the  cost  of  its  preparation. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  every  one  here  will  avail  himself  of  the 
opportunity  of  supplying  his  library  with  this  important  and 
useful  addition  to  it.  Now,  are  you  ready  with  the  corpse? 

Mr.  S.  M.  McMillen :  Governor  Foraker,  I  am  requested 
and  deputized  by  the  Women's  Centennial  Association  of 
Washington  County,  Ohio,  to  present  to  you  this  box,  which 
bears  this  inscription  :  "  This  Gavel  and  Copper  Box  were 
furnished  by  the  Women's  Centennial  Association  of  Washing 
ton  County,  Ohio,  on  the  occasion  of  the  Centennial,  beginning 
July  15th,  in  the  year  1888."  The  handle  of  the  gavel  is 
formed  of  wood  from  the  door  of  Campus  Martius,  the  first 
home  of  the  Pioneers,  and  the  head  from  a  fragment  taken 
from  the  Muskingum  Academy,  the  first  school-house  in  the 
Northwest,  and  was  presented,  with  appropriate  remarks  by 
His  Honor,  Mr.  Josiah  Coulter,  Mayor  of  Marietta,  as  an  em 
blem  of  authority  to  His  Excellency,  Hon.  J.  B.  Foraker,  Gov- 
18  c.  R. 


272  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 

ernor  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  in  turn  by  him  presented  to 
Gen.  Thomas  Ewing,  President  of  the  Pioneer  and  Family  Re 
union  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  to  be  used  by  him  while 
presiding. 

The  box  containing  the  printed  and  written  matter  was 
publicly  closed  and  sealed  on  the  stage  at  the  last  session  of  the 
Centennial,  July  ipth,  1888,  and  placed  in  the  custody  of  the 
Commissioners,  to  be  deposited  in  the  fire-proof  room  in  the 
Treasury  of  Washington  County  Court  House  for  preservation 
until  it  shall  be  opened  at  Marietta  on  the  occasion  of  the  next 
Centennial  in  1988,  referring  to  page  — ,  volume  8,  Commis 
sioner's  Journal. 

The  following  is  a  complete  list  of  the  contents  of  the 
copper  box,  closed  and  sealed  on  July  ipth,  1888,  the  last  day 
of  the  Centennial : 

1.  Constitution  and  By-laws,  List  of  the  members  of  the  Women's  Centen 

nial  Association  of  Washington  County,  Ohio. 

2.  Alphabetical   list  of  the  Committee  of    One  Hundred,  including  the 

Ladies'  Committee  of  Twenty-five. 

3.  Sub-committees  of  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred,  including  Managers 

and  Executive  Committee,  and  Township  Committeemen. 

4.  Names  of  Officers. 

(a)  Of  the  City  of  Marietta. 

(b)  Of  Marietta  Township. 

(c)  Of  Washington  County. 

(d)  Of  the  State  of  Ohio. 

(e)  Of  the  United  States. 

(f)  Judges  of  the  Circuit  Court  for  the  Fourth  Judicial  Circuit. 

(g)  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  for  the  Third  Sub-division 

of  the  Seventh  Judicial  District. 

(h)     Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio. 

(i)  Senator  from  the  Fourteenth  Senatorial  District  of  Ohio  ;  Repre 
sentative  of  Washington  County  in  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives  of  Ohio. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  273 


.(j)     Candidates  of  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties  for  Presi 
dent  and  Vice-President. 

5.  Board  of  Education  ;  Superintendent  and  Teachers  of  the  Public  Schools 

of  the  City  of  Marietta. 

6.  Pastors  and  Church  Officers,  Sunday  School  Officers  of  the  Churches  of 

Marietta  and  Harmar. 

(a)  First  Congregational  Church  of  Marietta. 

(b)  First  Baptist  Church  of  Marietta. 

(c)  St.  Luke's  Episcopal  Church  of  Marietta. 

(d)  St.  Mary's  Catholic  Church  of  Marietta. 

(e)  German  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Marietta. 

(f)  Crawford  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Harmar. 

(g)  Congregational  Church  of  Harmar. 

(h)     Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Marietta. 

(i)     First  Unitarian  Church  of  Marietta. 

(j)     Fourth  Street  Presbyterian  Church  of  Marietta. 

(k)     African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Marietta. 

7.  Ordinances  of  the  City  of  Marietta. 

8.  Official  Congressional  Directory,  dated  April,  1888,  containing  a  full  list 

of  all  United  States  Officers,  Senators  and  Representatives,  furnished 
•by  Hon.  Daniel  Lament,  President's  Private  Secretary. 

9.  Souvenir  Album  of  Marietta. 

10.  Badges  of  the  Centennial  Committees;  Women's  Centennial  Association; 

Committee  of  One  Hundred;  St.  Clair  Badge,  also  Medals;  General 
Grant  Medal;  St.  Clair  Medal,  with  Campus  Martius  on  obverse  side; 
the  St.  Clair  and  Foraker  Medal,  with  old  stockade  on  obverse  side; 
Cleveland  Western  Tour  Medal,  with  President  Cleveland  and  wife 
on  one  side  and  inscription  on  obverse. 

11.  Centennial  Circular  of  the  Washington  County  Women's  Home. 

12.  Music  in  manuscript  : 

(a)  Centennial  Anthem ;  words  and  music  by  Prof.  H.  S.  Saroni. 

(b)  Centennial  Ode ;  words  by  Wm.  J.  Lee,  D.  D.;  music  by  Prof. 

H.  S.  Saroni. 

13.  Programmes  of  the  Centennial. 

14.  Centennial  circulars,  issued  at  various  times. 

15.  Newspapers  of  the  city  of  Marietta: 

(a)  The  Marietta  Register;  Centennial  Daily  for  July  16,  17,  18  and 
19,  containing  Centennial  proceedings,  including  Opening 
Address  by  Governor  J.  B.  Foraker,  Oration  by  Senator.  Wm. 
H.  Evarts,  delivered  Tuesday,  July  17,  1888  ;  Centennial  Ode, 
delivered  by  Rev.  Wm.  J.  Lee,  D.  D.,  on  Pioneer  Day.  List 
of  objects  in  the  Relic  Room,  and  the  Government  Exhibit, 
etc. 


274  REPORT   OF  THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


(b)  The  Marietta  Times,  July   18,  1888,  containing  Centennial  pro 

ceedings  up  to  the  time  of  going  to  press. 

(c)  The  Marietta  Weekly  Leader,  July  16,  1888,  containing  Centen 

nial  proceedings  up  to  the  time  of  going  to  press. 

(d)  The  Marietta  Zeitung  (German),  of  July  13,  1888.    [Note:    Each 

paper  had  attached  a  slip  with  names  of  proprietors  and  em 
ployes  thereon.] 

(e)  Centennial  Supplement  (revised  edition),  issued  by  all  the  papers 

prior  to  the  celebration. 

1 6.  Officers  of  the  village  of  Harmar. 

17.  Souvenir  of  Marietta,  published  about  one  year  prior  to  the  celebration. 

1 8.  Portraits  of  the  candidates  of  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties  for 

President  and  Vice-President  in  the  year  1888. 

19.  Masonic  Directory  of  Marietta  and  Harmar. 

20.  History  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  prepared  by  the  Committee  of  One 

Hundred. 

21.  Board  of  Education  and  Teachers  of  the  Harmar  public  "schools. 

22.  Autograph  card  of  Grover  Cleveland,  President  of  the  United  States,  sent 

by  him  to  be  placed  in  the  box. 
'23.     Address  of  General  Thomas  Ewing,  delivered  on^Pioneer  Day,*Wednes- 

.     day,  July  1 8,  1888. 
24.     Photographs,  donated  by  Craig,  artist : 

(a)  Governor  Arthur  St.  Clair. 

(b)  General  Rufus  Putnam. 

(c)  Old  bell  of  Campus  Martius. 

(d)  Old  plow,  jail  lock  and  flax-brake. 

(e)  Nye  House,  on  Campus  Martius. 

(f)  Land  Office  of  the  Ohio  Company. 

(g)  Campus  Martius. 

(h)     First  school-house  in  the  Northwest  Territory. 

(i)     Composition  Centennial  photograph. 

(j)     The  old  mound  in  the  cemetery. 
[Note. — Of  the  above  "  a,"  "  b,"  and  "  g"  were  taken  from  paintings  or 

drawings;    all  "the  others,  except  the  composition    photograph,  are 

taken  from  the  original  objects.] 
35.     Copy  of  the  New  York  Herald  of  April  15,  1865,  containing  an~account 

of  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln,  etc. 
26.     Poem  by  Col.  Wm.  A.  Taylor,  delivered  on  Ohio  Day,  July  19,  1888. 

[The  reason  that  some  addresses  and  poems  were  included,  and  not  all, 

is,  that  they  were  either  in  print  prior  to  the  time  of  delivery,  or  were 

in   the  newspapers,  and  in  shape  to  be  readily  obtained.     In  case  of 

General  Ewing's  address,  the  committee  were  only  able  to  obtain  the 

proof-sheets,  which  are  corrected  by  himself.] 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  275 

27.  Names  of  Honorary  Commissioners  from  the  States  of  Indiana,  Michi 
gan,  Illinois,  and  Wisconsin,  including  the  Ohio  Centennial  Commis 
sioners,  and  the  Ohio  State  Reception  Committee. 

The  copper  box  was  then  closed  and  sealed  up  in  accord 
ance  with  the  instructions  above  given,  after  which  Governor 
Foraker  said  : 

The  box  will  be  deposited  in  accordance  with  the  directions 
which  you  have  given,  having  been  sealed  up  in  the  presence 
of  this  audience,  as  was  proposed. 

This,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  concludes  this  celebration. 
This  is  the  last  exercise,  and  the  last  of  this  exercise,  except 
only  that  most  appropriate  ceremony  of  invoking  the  divine 
blessing,  which  I  now  call  upon  Rev.  Mr.  Herr,  himself  a  pio 
neer  minister,  to  do. 


Remarks  of  jReV.  William  jierr, 

OF  DAYTON,  OHIO. 


I  am  not  a  native  of  Ohio,  but  I  am  a  native  of  Maryland ;  born  there  in 
the  year  1806.  In  company  with  my  father  and  mother,  I  came  to  the  State  of 
Ohio  in  1820,  and  having  lived  here  ever  since,  I  consider  myself  an  Ohio  man. 
I  was  acquainted  with  Senator  Sherman  and  Senator  Ewing  when  they  were 
children,  in  the  town  of  Lancaster,  in  this  State,  where  my  father  settled,  and 
where  I  spent  a  very  considerable  part  of  my  time  prior  to  my  going  to  the  Ohio 
University,  located  at  Athens,  where  I  received  my  education.  I  feel  that  I  am 
in  sentiment,  and  in  feeling,  and  in  heart  an  Ohio  man,  interested  in  all  that  is 
grand  and  glorious,  and  promising  in  connection  with  this  grand  old  State.  And 
I  expect,  when  I  die,  I  will  be  buried  in  Ohio  soil,  in  the  hope  of  a  glorious  res 
urrection  and  anticipation  that  asleep  in  Jesus,  I  will  wake  to  light  and  immor 
tality;  my  body  come  forth  by  the  mighty  and  transforming  power  of  the  Author 


276  REPORT    OF    THE  >  COMMISSIONERS    OF   THET 


of  -my  being,  and  reunited  to  the  immortal  spirit,  live  forever  in  that  blessed 
world,  where  the  inhabitants  are  forever  free  from  the  touch  of  disease  and  death, 
and  live  forever,  and  forever  more. 

In  1828,  sixty  years  ago  next  September,  I  came  to  Marietta  as  a  minister  of 
Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  all  through  Ohio,  and  West  Virginia  and  Michigan, 
and  some  parts  of  Kentucky,  I  have  had  the  privilege,  for  nearly  sixty  years,  of 
preaching  the  Gospel  of  Him  crucified.  And  now,  in  view  of  this  grand  Cele 
bration,  in  which  we  have  all  participated,  and  that,  too,  with  joy,  and  gladness 
and  gratitude,  I  think  it  is  right  and  proper,  and  I  think  it  will  be  highly  agree 
able  to  the  whole  audience,  to  stand  upon  their  feet,  and,  led  by  the  band,  all 
unite  in  singing  the  Doxology,  "  Praise  God  from  Whom  all  blessings  flow." 

The  audience  then  rose  to  their  feet,  and,  while  standing, 
sang  the  Doxology,  after  which  Mr.  Herr  continued : 

Let  us  try  that  again,  putting  our  hearts  into  it,  for  we 
have  hearts. 

The  audience,  still  standing,  again  sang  the  Doxology, 
after  which  Mr.  Herr  pronounced  the  following  benediction : 

And  now  may  the  peace  of  God,  which  surpasses  all  understanding,  keep 
your  hearts  and  mine  in  the  knowledge  and  love  of  God,  and  of  His  son,  Jesus 
Christ,  Our  Lord,  and  may  the  blessing  of  God  Almighty,  the  Father,  the  Son 
and  the  Holy  Spirit,  rest  upon  you,  and  abide  with  you  and  all  the  people  of  this 
State,  and  all  the  people  of  the  Union,  and  may  we  live  for  God,  die  in  His  favor, 
and  be  saved  forever  in  Heaven,  through  Jesus  Christ,  Our  Lord.  Amen. 

The  audience  then  dispersed. 


'<J     °F  \\ 

rjSlVBRSITY] 
^.JSUtCVfegr 


APPENDIX   I. 

UNITED  STATES  GOVERNMENT  EXHIBIT. 


Report  of  the  Centennial  Exposition, 


AT    MARIETTA,    OHIO, 

16   TO   21,  1888. 


The  Smithsonian  Institution  and  the  National  Museum 
participated  in  the  Centennial  Exposition  at  Marietta,  in  con 
formity  with  the  President's  order  of  July,  1888,  which  permit 
ted  the  Head  of  any  Department  to  send  such  exhibits  to 
Marietta,  as,  in  his  discretion,  it  was  proper  and  expedient  to 
remove. 

The  Executive  order,  together  with  a  letter  from  the  Hon. 
John  Eaton,  former  Commissioner  of  Education,  and  Public 
Resolution  No.  26,  are  given  herewith : 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  y«/y  n,  1888. 

The  action  of  the  State  Department,  as  indicated  in  the  extract  from  the  or- 
der.issued  by  the  said  Department  submitted  to  me,  is  approved  to  the  extent  of 
permitting  the  Head  of  any  Department  to  determine  what,  if  any,  of  the  ex 
hibits  from  his  Department  should  be  sent  to  Marietta,  pursuant  to  the  provisions 
of  the  act,  and  to  cause  the  removal  of  the  same  to  Marietta,  in  the  charge  of 
some  careful  and  discreet  person,  if  the  appropriation  allowed  his  Department  is 
sufficient,  and  if,  in  the  discretion  of  the  Head  of  said  Department,  such  removal 
is  proper  and  expedient. 

[Signed]  GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


278  REPORT    OF     THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  July  11,  1888. 
To  the  President : 

SIR  :  I  have  the  honor  to  invite  your  attention  to  the  provision  in  the  act 
relating  to  the  Exhibition  in  Cincinnati,  placing  within  your  discretion  the  ap 
proval  of  an  exhibit  of  certain  artioles  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  during  the  Centennial 
celebration  there.  The  time  for  the  Exhibition  is  short,  only  a  few  days  now 
intervening.  Would  it  be  in  accordance  with  your  judgment  to  provide  the  action 
of  the  State  Department  already  taken,  for  the  guidance  of  the  other  Departments 
in  the  exercise  of  the  discretion  committed  to  you  by  law? 
Very  respectfully, 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 
[Signed]  JOHN  EATON. 


PUBLIC    RESOLUTION,  No.  26. 

Joint  Resolution  declaring  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  the  Act  approved  May 

28,  1888. 

Resolved,  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
in  Congress  assembled,T\\z\.  it  is  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  the  act  of  Congress, 
approved  May  28,  1888,  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  entitled  "  An  act 
making  appropriation  to  enable  the  several  Executive  Departments  of  the  govern 
ment,  and  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture,  and  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  including 
the  National  Museum,  and  the  Commission  of  Fish  and  Fisheries,  to  participate 
in  the  Centennial  Exposition  of  the  Ohio  Valley  and  Central  States,  to  be  held 
at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  from  July  4,  to  October  7,  1888,"  that  the  President  of  the 
United  States  may,  in  his  discretion,  make  an  order  directing  that  any  documents, 
papers,  maps  not  original,  books,  or  other  exhibits  which  properly  and  pertinently 
relate  to  the  establishment  of  civil  government  in  the  territory  northwest  of  the 
Ohio  River,  may  be  sent  upon  an  executive  order  from  any  of  the  several  Depart 
ments  in  said  act  named,  or  from  the  exhibits  now  at  Cincinnati ;  and  that  the 
appropriation  of  money  in  said  act  to  defray  the  expenses  of  such  exhibits,  may 
be  made  applicable,  in  so  far  as  the  President  of  the  United  States  may  direct, 
to  the  payment  of  the  expenses  of  the  care  and  transportation  to  and  return  of 
such  exhibits  from  Marietta. 

And  the  same  shall  be  paid  from  such  fund  heretofore  set  apart  for  each 
Department  as  the  President  may  order.  Nor  shall  anything  in  this  act  be  so 
construed  as  to  prevent  the  purchase  of  suitable  materials,  and  the  employment 
of  proper  persons,  to  complete  or  modify  series  of  objects,  and  classes  of  speci 
mens,  when  in  the  judgment  of  the  head  of  a  department,  such  purchase  or  em 
ployment,  or  both,  is  necessary  in  the  proper  preparation  and  conduct  of  an  ex- 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  279 

hibit.     Nor  to  authorize  the  removal  from  their  places  of  deposit  in  Washington 
of  any  original  paper,  or  document,  or  laws,  or  ordinances  whatever. 
Approved  July  16,  1888. 

Owing  to  the  absence  in  Europe  of  Professor  Langley,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  Mr.  G.  Brown  Goode, 
the  Acting  Secretary  and  representative  to  the  Expositions, 
was  unable  to  leave  his  official  post  in  Washington.  I  was 
therefore  delegated  to  represent  Professor  Goode  at  the  Ma 
rietta  Centennial. 

The  Executive  order  permitting  the  sending  of  exhibits  to 
Marietta  was  not  received  until  noon  of  July  14,  the  day  before 
the  opening  of  jthe  Centennial,  and  at  9:40  P.  M.  of  that  day,  I, 
together  with  Mr.  Paul  Brockett,  took  the  first  express  train  at 
Washington  with  31  boxes,  containing  7,327  pounds  of  exhibits 
in  charge. 

Arriving  about  noon  of  the  I5th,  these  exhibits  were  con 
veyed  to  the  City  Hall,  and  by  2:30  A.  M.  the  following  day,  the 
Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  Inauguration  at  Marietta  of 
General  St.  Clair,  as  the  Governor  of  the  "  Northwest  Terri 
tory,"  the  display  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  and  the  Na 
tional  Museum  was  in  order,  and  ready  for  examination. 


280  REPORT   OF   THE   COMMISSIONERS   OF   THE 


List  of  Exhibits. 


HAIDA    OBJECTS. 
LITHOGRAPHS   OF   THE   GAME  FISHES  OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

MEDALS. 

LARGE   U.    S.  MAP. 
PHOTOGRAPHS    OF    PUBLIC    BUILDINGS. 

AUTOTYPES. 
ARTICLES    ILLUSTRATING   THE   COMPOSITION    OF   THE    HUMAN  BODY. 

TRANSPORTATION   EXHIBIT. 
DISPLAY    OF   THE   STATE    DEPARTMENT. 

GEOLOGICAL   SURVEY    EXHIBIT. 
MARIETTA    DISPLAY    IN    ARMORY    BUILDING. 


It  was  thought  that  students  of  Marietta,  and  thefarchaeol- 
ogists  would  be  interested  in  a  collection,  illustrative  of  the  arts 
of  the  Haida  Indians  of  Queen  Charlotte  Archipelago,  British 
America,  as  these  Indians  are  in  the  same  condition  of  culture 
as  the  builders  of  the  earth-works  at  Marietta,  and  so,  to  give  a 
general  idea  of  the  arts  of  the  ancient  Mound  Builders,  a  col 
lection  composed  of  the  following  objects  was  brought  from 
the  Museum  at  Washington. 

Haida  Boxes,  Chief's  Wooden  Hat, 

Carved  Canes,  Stone  Pipe, 

Slate  Totum  Posts,  Ammunition  Bag, 

Stone  Knife,  Horn  Spoon, 

Slate  Knives,  Gambling  Sticks, 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION. 


28l 


Slate  Plate, 

Carved  Slate  Box, 

Slate  Dish, 

Carved  War  Club, 

Horn  Dishes, 

Carved  Dipper,  ^ 

Painted  Hat, 

Fish  Hook, 

Wooden  Spoon, 

Wooden  Fork, 

Papoose  Cradle, 

Medicine  Man's  Clopper, 

Whale  Oil  Dish, 

Food  Dish, 

Bottle  covered  with  woven  grass, 


Baskets, 
Carved  Dishes, 
Carved  Wooden  Spoon, 
Carved  Horn  Spoons, 
Rattles, 

Wooden  Dipper, 
Mask,  Bilhula, 
Carved  Images, 
Carved  Mask, 
Model  of  Haida  House, 
Model  of  Haida  Boat, 
Mask, 

Stone  Maul, 
Stone  Maul-head, 

Unit    Boxes    of    Haida   .Carvings, 
Dishes,  etc. 


One  of  the  original  Audubon  plates,  from  which  was 
printed  "  Birds  of  North  America,"  was  exhibited,  as  were 
also  eighteen  lithographs  from  Goode  and  Kilbourne's  work, 
"The  Game  Fishes  of  the  United  States/'  These  lithographs, 
the  list  of  which  is  appended,  were  greatly  admired. 


THE   GAME    FISHES   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Grayling Thymallus  tricolor. 

Perch Perca  Americana. 

Weak-fish Cynoscion  regale. 

Red   Snapper Lutjanus  blackfordi, 

Sea  Bass Serranus  atrarius. 

Lake  Trout Salvelinus  namaycush 

Salmon Salmo  salar. 

King-fish Menticirrus  nebulosus. 

Mackerel Scomber  scrombrus. 

Bonito Sarda  sarda. 

Brook  Trout  Salvelinus  fontinalis. 

Blue-fish Pomatomus  salatator. 

Sheepshead Archosargus  probatocephalus. 


282  REPORT   OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF     THE 


Pompano Trachynotus  carplinus. 

Rock-fish Roccus  lineatus 

Spanish  Mackerel Scromberomorus  maculatus. 

Channel  Bass Scisenops  ocellata. 

California  Salmon Onchorynchus  chonica. 


The  following  medals,  made  of  copper  at  the  mint  from 
the  original  dies,  were  on  exhibition.  These  medals  are  of 
great  historic  interest,  the  originals,  of  gold  and  silver,  having 
been  struck  by  order  of  Congress  in  commemoration  of  Nation- 
al;events,  or  in  recognition  of  heroic  actions  in  the  history  of 
our  country;  thus  furnishing  an  enduring  record,  and  a  means 
of  familiarizing  future  generations  with  the  features  of  Ameri 
can  heroes  of  every  class  of  events,  military,  naval,  civil  and 
scientific : 

MILITARY    AND    NAVAL    MEDALS. 

General  Washington —  Captain  Truxton — 

Siege  of  Boston.  Naval  Victory. 

General  Gates —  Captain  Isaac  Hull — 

Saratoga.  Naval  Victory. 

Major  Harry  Lee —  Commodore  Preble — 

Powles  Hook.  Naval  Victory. 

General  Morgan —  Colonel  W.  A.  Washington — 

Cowpens.  Cowpens. 

Colonel  J.  E.  Howard —  Colonel  George  Croghon — 

Cowpens.  Fort  Stephenson. 

Colonel  de  Fleury —  General  Harrison — 

Stony  Point.  The  Thames. 

Captain  Paul  Jones —  Governor  Isaac  Shelby — 

Naval  Victory.  The  Thames. 

General  Winfield  Scott —  General  Zachary  Taylor — 

Chippewa  and  Niagara,  Three  Medals:  Monterey,  Buena  Vista, 

Captain  Stephen  Decatur —  Rio  Grande. 

Naval  Victory.  Captain  J.  D.  Elliott— Lake  Erie. 


NATIONAL   CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION. 


283 


Captain  Bainbridge — 

Naval  Victory. 
Captain  Jacob  Jones — 

Naval  Victory. 
Captain  Lawrence — 

Naval  Victory. 
General  P.  B.  Porter — 

Chippewa,  Niagara,  Erie. 
General  Jacob  Brown — 

Chippewa,  Niagara,  Erie. 
General  James  Miller — 

Chippewa,  Niagara,  Erie. 
General  E.  W.  Ripley— 

Chippewa,  Niagara,  Erie. 
Lieutenant  E.  R.  McCall— 

Naval   Victory. 
Captain  O.  H.  Perry — 

Lake  Erie  ;  Three  Medals. 
General  Jackson — 

New  Orleans. 
Lieutenant  Burrows — 

Naval  Victory. 

General  Alex. 


Captain  Warrington — 
Naval  Victory. 

Captain  Blakely — 
Naval  Victory. 

Captain  Macdonough — 
Lake  Champlain. 

General  Win  field  Scott — 
Two  Medals :     Mexico. 

General  Ulysses  S.  Grant- 
Fort    Donelson,     Vicksburg,   Chatta 
nooga. 

Captain  R.  Henley — 
Lake  Champlain. 

Lieutenant  Cassin — 
Lake  Champlain. 

Captain  J.  Biddle— 
Naval  Victory. 

Captain  C.  Stewart- 
Naval  Victory. 

General  E.  P.  Gaines — 

Lake  Erie. 
Macomb — Plattsburg. 


MISCELLANEOUS    MEDALS. 


Diplomatic  Medal. 

Loss  of  Brig  Somers. 

Wreck  of  S.  S.  San  Francisco. 

Com.  D.  N.  Ingraham — 
Release  of  Coszta. 

Two  Shipwreck  Medals. 

Japanese  Embassy. 

Dr.  Fred.  Rose- 
Heroic  Conduct. 

Cornelius  Vanderbilt — 
Patriotism. 

Colonel  Armstrong — 
Kittaning. 

John  Horn,  Jr. — 
Heroic  Conduct. 

G.  F.  Robinson — 
Heroic  Conduct. 


Professor  Louis  Agassiz — 

Scientific  Medal. 
Coast  Survey. 
Pacific  Railway — 

The  Oceans  United. 
"Let  us  have  Peace" — 

U.  S.  Grant. 
Cyrus  W.  Field- 
Completion  of  the  Atlantic  Cable. 
President  J.  Adams — 

Indian  Peace  Medal. 
President  T.  Jefferson — 

Indian  Peace  Medal. 
President  Madison — 

Indian  Peace  Medal. 
President  Monroe — 
Indian  Peace  Medal. 


284  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


Com.  M.  C.  Perry —  •     President  J.  Q.  Adams — 

Treaty  with  Japan.  Indian  Peace  Medal. 

Loss  of  S.  S.  Metis.  President  Jackson — 

Emancipation  Proclamation.  Indian  Peace  Medal. 

President  Tyler —  President  Van  Buren — 

Indian  Peace  Medal.  Indian  Peace  Medal. 

President  Polk—  President  Lincoln — 

Indian  Peace  Medal.  Indian  Peace  Medal. 

President  Taylor —  President  Johnson — 

Indian  Peace  Medal.  Indian  Peace  Medal. 

President  Filmore —  President  Grant — 

Indian  Peace  Medal.  Indian  Peace  Medal. 

President  Pearce —  President  Hays — 

Indian  Peace  Medal.  Indian  Peace  Medal. 

President  Buchanan —  President  Garfield — 

Indian  Peace  Medal.  Indian  Peace  Medal. 
President  A?-thur — Indian  Peace  Medal. 


A  large  Survey  map,  which  showed  the  geological  forma 
tion  of  North  America  through  the  area  of  the  United  States, 
was  exhibited,  as  were  also  fine  photographs  of  the  Smith 
sonian  Institution,  National  Museum,  State,  War,  and  Navy 
Departments,  Patent  Office,  and  Executive  Mansion.  These 
photographs  were  enlargements,  four  and  a  half  by  seven  feet 
in  size,  made  by  the  photographer  of  the  National  Museum,  by 
means  of  the  electric  light,  and  are  among  the  largest  ever 
made. 

Many  autotypes  of  pictures  by  the  old  masters,  and  by 
the  most  famous  modern  painters,  were  shown  on  the  walls  of 
the  exposition  room.  These  pictures,  the  list  of  which  is  given 
here,  were  constantly  surrounded  by  appreciative  groups. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  285 


LIST    OF    AUTOTYPES. 

Group  of  Saints Orcagna. 

Procession  of  Saints  Fra  Angelico. 

The  Crucifixion  " 

Pieta  Van  der  Weyden. 

The  Virgin  and  Saint  Elizabeth Lippi. 

St.  Michael Perugino. 

St.  Bernard  and  The  Virgin " 

Infant  Jesus,  Virgin  and  Saints " 

The  London  Madonna .' " 

The  Coronation  of  The  Virgin Botticelli. 

Portrait Francis. 

The  Nativity Memlinc. 

Christ  preaching  to  the  Apostles Leonarde  da  Vinci. 

A  portrait '. " 

Virgin  and  Child Albertinelli. 

The  Erythrean  Sibyl  Michael  Angelo. 

The  Delphic  Sibyl " 

The  Prophet  Jeremiah " 

The  Prophet  Zacharias " 

Four  Frescoes  from  the  Sistine  Chapel ; " 

The  Manchester  Madonna " 

Entombment  of  Christ Titian. 

The  Virgin  with  a  Rabbit  " 

St.  Sebastian  Sodoma-Bazzin. 

The  Sistine  Madonna Raphael. 

The  Madonna  della  Sedia " 

The  Miraculous  Draught  of  Fishes " 

Dispute  concerning  the  Sacrament " 

La  belle  Jardiniere " 

Holy  Family,  with  Katherine,  Elizabeth  and  the  infant  Jesus — 

Andrea  del  Sarto. 

The  Madonna  of  St.  Francis " 

Innocence    Romano. 

Ecce  Homo Corregio. 

Die  heilige  Nacht  ,., " 

Picture  from  the  Exposition  du  Palais  Bourbon Palma. 

Descent  from  the  Cross Carracci. 

Nude  figure  seated " 

The  Annunciation  Guido  Reni. 

Deianira  and  Nesses  " 

The  Little  Princess  ...  ...Moreelse. 


286  REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS    OF    THE 


Descent  from  the  Cross Rubens. 

Henry  IV  installing  Marie  de  Medici  as  Regent " 

The  Triumph  of  Youth " 

The  Rape  of  Antiopa " 

Fish  Woman Hals. 

Saint  Cecelia Domenichino. 

Victorious  Love " 

Theseus  Finding  his  Father's  Sword Poussin. 

Madonna Van  Dyck. 

Portrait " 

The  Good  Shepherd Champaigne. 

The  Three  Ages  of  Man Sassoferrato. 

The  Abbess  Rembrandt. 

Portrait  of  Himself " 

The  Temptation  of  St.  Anthony Teniers. 

Village  Festival ,. " 

Old  Woman  at  a  Window Gerard  Dow. 

Winter  Scene  in  Holland  Van  Ostade. 

War Salvator  Rosa.- 

Christ  appearing  before  Mary  Magdalene LeSuer. 

The  Field Potter 

Group  of  Sheep " 

Cows  and  Sheep  " 

Wandering  Musician Jan  Steen. 

Study  from  Nature Metzu. 

A  Dead  Calm  Van  deVelde. 

Marine  View " 

Louis  XIV Rigaud. 

"  Gilles"  or  "  Pierrot" Watteau. 

The  Chocalate  Girl  Lietard. 

Pastoral  Subject Boucher. 

The  Village  Groom Greuze. 

A  Portrait " 

Portrait  of  M.  Rabuti  " 

Picture  from  the  Musee  du  Louvre " 

The  Horatii David. 

Madame  Recamier " 

The  Marquise  d'Orvilliers  " 

Portrait  of  the  Artist  and  her  Daughter .• Vigee  LeBrun. 

The  Burial  of  Attala Girodet. 

Daphnis  and  Chloe Gerard. 

CEdipus  and  the  Sphinx  Ingres. 

Joan  of  Arc " 


NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.       287 


Arab  Hunter  Vernet. 

The  Wreck  of  the  Medusa Gericault. 

Willows  at  Marseilles,  near  Beauvais Corot. 

The  Princes  in  the  Tower Paul  Delaroche. 

The  Forest  at  Fontainbleau — Sunset Rosseau. 

The  Shore  at  Antibes  Meissonnier. 

Napoleon " 

A  Shepherd Millet. 

The  Reaper's  Repast " 

The  Return  of  the  Gleaners Breton. 

Tobit  and  the  Angel  Dore. 


THE    COMPOSITION   OF    THE    HUMAN    BODY. 

The  Composition  of  the  Human  Body,  its  "  Daily  Income 
and  Expenditure/'  and  casts  in  plaster  of  the  articles  of  food 
ordinarily  used  as  a  day's  rations,  were  shown,  as  well  as  speci 
mens  of  the  different  chemical  elements  and  compounds  of  the 
body,  so  far  as  possible  to  science  to  obtain  or  represent  them. 
This  exhibit,  which  is  explained  by  the  accompanying  list  of 
objects  shown,  and  by  copies  of  the  large  descriptive  labels, 
attracted,  perhaps,  more  attention  than  any  other  sent  by  the 
Museum,  curious  and  interested  crowds  being  seen  at  all  times 
examining  it. 

In  addition  to  the  collections  brought  from  Washington, 
Mr.  J.  E.  Watkins,  Curator  of  the  Department  of  Transporta 
tion  in  the  National  Museum,  who  was  in  attendance  at  the 
Cincinnati  Exposition,  was  telegraphed  to  bring  from  his  de 
partment  at  that  Exposition,  such  models,  engravings,  and  paint 
ings  as  could  be  spared,  illustrative  of  the  methods  of  transpor- 

19*  C.B. 


288  REPORT   OF   THE   COMMISSIONERS    OF   THE 

tation  adopted  by  the  early  settlers  in  America,  and  of  the 
early  navigation  of  the  Ohio  River,  together  with  the  means  of 
reaching  the  Ohio  Valley,  from  the  seaboard,  from  aboriginal 
times,  to  the  introduction  of  the  locomotive. 

This  exhibit,  which  was  placed  in  the  center  of  the  hall 
and  directly  in  front  of  the  entrance,  proved  most  attractive,  so 
much  so,  in  fact,  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  protect  it  with 
a  railing,  from  eager  but  not  unfriendly  hands,  that  frequently 
took  the  birch-bark  canoe  on  impromptu  journeys  around  the 
room,  and  sometimes  tried  to  set  the  machinery  to  work  in  the 
models  of  the  antiquated  steamboats  on  exhibition. 

The  Transportation  Exhibit  may  be  briefly  described  as 
follows : 

TRANSPORTATION    EXHIBIT. 

I.  Type  of  birch-bark  canoe  used  on  the  Ohio  River  by  the  Indians. 

II.  Engraving  of  the  ship  "  Sally  Constant,"  which   brought  the  first  set 
tlers  in  Virginia  to  Jamestown,  among  whom  were  many  ef  the  ancestors  of  the 
pioneers  of  the  Northwest  Territory. 

III.  Boat  similar  in  construction  to  that  built  by  Captain   Devoll  in  1787, 
and  known  as  the  "Mayflower  of  the  Ohio."     Captain   Devoll  having  been   a 
constructor  of  whaling  ships  in  Massachusetts,  the  lines  of  the  hull  are  similar  to 
boats  of  that  time  constructed  in  the  east. 

IV.  The  "Orleans,"    1812,  the   first  steamboat  on  the  Ohio  River;  con 
structed  in  1811  at  Pittsburgh.     Fulton  and  Livingston  having  met  with  success 
in  introducing  the  steamboat  on  the  Hudson,  four  years  later,  transferred  their 
sphere  of  labor  to  the  western  waters.     This  boat  was  on   her  way  to  New   Or 
leans  during  the  earthquake  of  1812,  and  reaching  there  safely,  continued  to  run 
between  that  point  and  Natchez  until  July  i4,  1814,  when  she  was  sunk  off  Baton 
Rouge. 

Her  machinery,  however,  was  saved,  and  with  a  new  boiler,  was  transferred 
to  another  boat,  which  was  called  the  "New  Orleans." 

The  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railway,  in  1828,  began  to  lay  its  tracks  from  Balti 
more,  towards  the  Ohio  River.  The  steam  locomotive  at  that  time,  was  not  in 
successful  operation,  and  many  experiments  were  made  in  the  construction  of 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  289 


cars,  and  in   the   application  of   power.     Models,  illustrating   these  experiments, 
were  also  shown. 

V.  Closed  passenger  car  with  weather-boarded  sides   and  windows,  similar 
to  those  in  dwelling  houses ;  built  to  be  drawn  by  horses. 

VI.  Double  deck,  stage  body  car,  also  to  be  drawn  by  horses. 

VII.  Horse-power  treadmill  car.     This  car  was  driven  at  the  rate  of  twelve 
miles  per  hour  by  a  single  horse  in  the  treadmill,  which  was  geared  to  the  wheels 
by  a  band. 

VIII.  Sail-car,  with   which   experiments  were   made   with  a  view  to  utilize 
the  power  of  the  wind,  as  in  boats. 

IX.  First  car  drawn  by  a  locomotive  on  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railway. 

X.  Engraving  of  first  train  of  cars  drawn  by  a  locomotive  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  on  the  line  of  communication  between  Boston  and  New  York. 

XI.  Engraving  of  the  first  passenger  car  on   the  Camden  &  Amboy  Rail 
way — used  on  the  route  from  New  York  to  Philadelphia. 

XII.  Model  of  canal  packet-boat — used  on  the  Pennsylvania  canal,  on  the 
through  route  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg. 

XIII.  Model  of  canoe  used  by  Haida  Indians. 

XIV.  Indian  of  the  Northwest  returning  from  the  hunt  with  a  bunch  of 
Ptarmigan.     The  full-sized  figure  illustrates  the  manner  in  which  snow-shoes  are 
used  to  aid  individual  movement. 

WILLIAM  VAN  ZANDT  Cox. 


In  the  Exposition  Hall,  besides  the  exhibits  sent  by  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  and  the  National  Museum,  was  the  in 
teresting  display  of  the  State  Department.  This  embraced 
copies  of  the  most  important  treaties  made  by  the  United 
States,  a  fac-simile  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  photo 
graphs  of  several  historical  pictures  of  much  interest,  and  pic 
tures  of  most  of  the  Presidents. 

The  Geological  Survey  had  an  attractive  Exhibit  of  Pho 
tographs  and  Transparencies ;  one  of  the  finest  of  the  latter 
being  a  view  of  the  Grand  Canon  of  Colorado,  looking  west. 


NATIONAL    CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION. 

The  photographs  of  dwellings  in  the  Zuni  villages,  showing 
the  mode  of  entrance  to  the  houses,  and  giving  an  accurate 
idea  of  many  features  in  the  life  of  a  people  just  now  the  object 
of  so  much  interesting  research,  attracted  the  attention  of 
Ethnologists  and  others. 

In  the  Armory  building  of  Marietta  the  local  display 
proper  was  to  be  seen.  Here  one  could  find  relics  of  the 
Mound-builders,  and  of  the  Indian  tribes  who  disappeared  at 
the  coming  of  the  white  man.  Then  there  were  precious  heir 
looms  of  the  first  families  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  in  the 
shape  of  antique  furniture,  clocks,  books,  deeds,  pictures, 
needle-work,  old  china,  silver,  pewter,  spinning-wheels  and 
watches. 

There  were  Washington  relics,  there  were  La  Fayette 
relics,  there  were  many  articles  that  had  belonged  to  General 
Israel  Putnam,  and  to  his  grandson,  the  Israel  Putnam  who  was 
one  of  the  Pioneers  of  Ohio,  and  there  were  relics  of  many 
other  of  Ohio's  most  distinguished  children,  civil  and  military; 
there  were  also  many  articles  that  had  been  the  property  of 
Burr  and  of  Blennerhassett.  The  historian  and  the  relic  hunter 
were  attracted  alike  by  this  remarkable  collection.  And  in 
addition  to  all  these  treasures  that  could  be  seen  and  handled, 
was  the  spirit  of  generous  hospitality  that  seemed  to  pervade 
all  the  air,  and  that  gave  to  the  stranger  a  welcome  so  hearty 
as  to  persuade  him  that  he  was,  for  the  time,  at  least,  one  of 
Marietta's  own  children. 

WILLIAM  VAN  ZANDT  Cox. 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Report  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  National  Centennial  Celebration 5 

Historical  Pageant 24 

Tableaux  27 

The  Celebration  Proper  37 

Opening  Exercises 43 

Address  of  Hon.  J.  B.  Foraker 44 

"           Right  Rev.  Bishop  Gilmour....  45 

"           Prof.  Morrison  51 

"           Mr.  Gear  60 

"           Mr.  Dickinson  65 

Programme  July  16 70 

Address  of  Hon.  S.  M.  McMillen 71 

"           Hon.  J.  B.  Foraker  72 

"           Hon.  John  H.  Stetsenberg 74 

"           Hon.  B.  Wilson  Smith 75 

"           Hon.  Charles  Reemelin  in  German 92 

"                    «                    "              English 100 

"           J.  B.  Cassody 109 

"           Prof.  J.  D.  Butler,  LL.  D in 

"           Mrs.  Mary  A.  Livermore  123 

Programme  July  17 139 

Address  of  Senator  Evarts 143 

"           Hon.  Lewis  G.  Palmer  153 

"           Hon.  N.  P.  Smith 164 

"           Hon.  John  Moses 169 

Programme  July  18 174 

Centennial  Ode,  by' Prof.  Saroni 176 

Welcome  Address  of  Hon.  Josiah  Coulter,  and  Response  of  Governor  J.  B. 

Foraker  178 

Response  of  Hon.  Thomas  Ewing  180 

Address  of  Mr.  Woodbridge ..  181 

"           Hon.  Thomas  Ewing 182 

Solo  (Auld  Lang  Syne),  by  Miss  Phcebe  Brown 191 


292  INDEX. 


PAGE 

Ode  on  Science,  by  the  Salem  Quartette 192 

Address  of  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Livermore  193 

".          Hon.  John  Sherman  195 

"           Mr.  Paul  Fearing 196 

Centennial  Ode,  by  Rev.  Wm.  J.  Lee,  D.  D 197 

Address  of  Col.  Charles  Goddard 202 

"           Hon.  Eli  Tappan 204 

"           Hon  John  C.  Lee 206 

"           Dr.  J.  T.  Cotton 208 

"           L.  P.  Putnam  210 

"           Cyrus  Ames 212 

"           Lieut.-Governor  Lyon 214 

"           Hon.  John  W.  Daniel 215 

Programme  July  19 232 

Chanson — The  Northwest  Territory,  by  W.  A.  Taylor 234 

Address  of  Senator  John  Sherman  238 

"           Gen.  Charles  H.  Grosvenor  250 

Poem,  by  Mrs.  Almira  D.  Guthrie 256 

Address  of  Hon.  D.  K.  Watson 258 

"           Hon.  John  C.  Lee  , 262 

Remarks  of  Rev.  William  Herr  275 

Appendix — Report  of  the  Centennial  Exposition 277 

List  of  Exhibits 280 

"       Autotypes  285 

Transportation  Exhibit 288 


02T 

^Jcrro^ 


LIST  OF  RELICS 


EXHIBITED  AT 


CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION 

OF 

The  Establishment  of  Civil  Government, 

AT 
MARIETTA,  OHIO, 

JULY  15-19,  188^ 

LOCAL  RELICS. 

First  plow  with  iron  point  used  in  Washington  County. 
First  shoe  bench  used  in  Campus  Martius. 
Armchair — Col.  Horace  Xye. 
Andirons  brought  to  Marietta  1815. 


Andirons  brought  to  Marietta  1809. 

Two  Guns,  1796—1801,  Christopher  Greene. 

Wooden  latch,  1818,  Newport  township. 

Foot  stove  prior  to  1800. 

Desk  used  by  Gen    Lewis  Cars  as  County  Clerk,  1S04. 

Plate  and  pair  of  snuffers — very  old,  Sprague  family. 

Gun  and  saddle  bags,  Revolution  and  War  of  1812. 

Tea  kettle,  owned  by  Rebecca  Williams,  Williamstown,  \V.  Va., 
opposite  Marietta,  two  years  before  the  settlement. 

Hatchet  used  by  Hezekiah  Bukey  for  blsizing  trees  while  acting  as 
scout. 

Mirror  belonging  to  John  Mathews,  the  Surveyor. 

Linen  woven  from  flax,  spun  by  Mrs.  Lucy  Dana  Browning. 

Shoe  buckles,  worn  by  Mrs.  Deborah  Fisher  Dana. 

Board  from  the  "Mayflower,"  in  which  the  48  pioneers  came  to 
Marietta. 

Box  with  three  secret  drawers  brought  to  Marietta  1S16  by  Mrs. 
Deborah  Fisher  Dana. 

Linen  cambric  handkerchief,  Peregrine  Foster,  the  pioneer. 

Bridal  dress,  Mrs.  Peregrine  Foster,  1780. 

Set  of  farming  tool,  the  first  used  in  the  territory. 

Old  Lace  Dress,  Lucinda  Belknap  Nye 

Aaron  Burr's  duelling  pitols,  found  by  one  of  the  party  who  seiged 
the  boats  built  at  Marietta. 

Original  mill  stones  used  in  Block  House  at  Fort  Harmar  for  grind 
ing  corn  mounted  with  primitive  mechanical  appliances. 

First  salt  kettle  used  in  Ohio. 

Side  board,  inlaid,  Gen.  Joseph  Buell,  1800. 

Brass  Andirons,  Gen.  Joseph  Buell,  1800. 

Old  Dutch  oven,  Gen.  Joseph  Buell,  1800. 

Inlaid  folding  centre  table,  Gen.  Joseph  Buell,  1800. 

Wine  chest  with  six  cut  glass  bottles,  Gen.  Joseph  Buell,  1^00. 

Inlaid  book  case,  Gen.  Joseph  Buell,  1800 

Brass  candlesticks,  Gen.  Joseph  Buell,  1800. 

China  pitcher  and  tea  pot,  Gen.  Joseph  Buell,  1800. 

Collection  Burr  and  Blennerhassett  papers  concerning  their  arrest 
and  detention,  Gen.  Joseph  Buell. 

Watch,  John  Mathews,  surveyor  and  pioneer. 

Waffle  irons,  long  handles,  very  early. 

Bake  reflector,  very  old. 

Collection,  military  outfit,  Col.  W    B.  Mason,  Civil  War. 

Sword  used  by  Wm.  Mason,  the  pioneer. 

Original  bell  used  in  Campus  Martins. 

Pistol  and  sword,  Maj.  Horace  Nye,  war  of  1812. 

Sword  carried  by  Maj.  Eleazer  Curtis,  Burgoyne's  campaign,  1777. 

Sword  presented  to  Maj.  Bradford  by  Gen.  Lafayette,  1781. 


Chair  brought  from  Plymouth,  Mass.,  1789. 

Andiron  brought  over  in  the  Mayflower  by  Gov.  Bradford,  1620. 

Hand-saw  of  Stephen  Devol,  sea-ship  carpenter,  1800. 

Sword  captured  at  Vicksburg  landing. 

Sword,  Col.  J.  C.  Paxton,  war  of  the  rebellion.      • 

Piece  of  old  carpet,  first  woven  in  the  Marietta  colony. 

Spinning  wheel,  reel  and  flax  wheel,  early  pioneers. 

Antique  clock,  made  in  Marietta  by  David  Anderson,  Sen. 

Pianos  brought  across  the  mountains  in  a  wagon,  1816,  by  Nahum 
Ward,  first  in  Marietta. 

Leather  tire   bucket,  used  in  the  early  days  of  Marietta,  for    fire 
protection. 

Wood  from  Nessley's  block  house. 

Needles  and  thimbles  used  in  sewing  hop  bales,  (early  pioneer's. 

Candlestick  used  in  first  Masonic  lodge  of  Ohio  at  Marietta. 

Original  plat  of  Campus  Martius  designating  parts  occupied  by     it'- 
ferent  families. 

Shears  used  by  Abijah  Beebe,  1799. 

Cane  from  first  apple  tree  of  Marietta  colony. 

Wool  carder,  used  in  Reynold's  family  1763. 

Andirons  owned  by  Kbinezer  Battelle,  1738.  » 

Table  cloth,  Rev.  Joseph  Burkminster,  1790. 

Chair,  Rev.  Joseph  Burkminster. 

Old  spinning  wheel,  used  in  West  family  for  six  generations. 

Corn  Mill  used  in  Campus  Martius. 

Bricks  from  old  well  in  Campus  Martius. 

Wrought  lace  veils  made  by  Mrs.  Dr.  Jonas  Moore. 

German  towels,  Baron  DeSteiguer. 

Guard  and  chain,  Gen.  Hart. 

Military  outfit,  camp  equipage,  etc.,  and  other  relics  of  the  Civil 
War,  Gen.  D.  B.  Fearing. 

Roasting  jack,  over  two  hundred  years  old,  Miller  family. 

Knee  and  shoe  buckles,  Col.  Robert  Taylor,  first  man  buried  in 
Mound  Cemetery. 

Wooden  mortar  and  pestle,  Amos  Porter  the  pioneer. 

Andirons,  Win.  Mason,  the  pioneer. 

Sugar  barrel.  Wm.  Mason,  the  pioneer. 

Watch  carried  by  Wm.  Mason  when  he  landed,  April  7,  1788, 

Arm  chair  of  Commodore  Whipple. 

Press  board,  Mrs.  Gen    Tupper,  used  in  making  clothes   for  sol 
diers  of  the  revolution 

Antique  Mirror,  Rev.  Mr.  Willard. 

Fire  Screen.  Dr.  S.  P.  Hildreth. 

Chisel,  used  to  cut  buttom  holes,  1790. 

Implement  used  to  turn  griddle  cakes  over  an  open  fire,  1790. 

Chair  from  wood  of  first  court  house  and  jail  in  Ohio. 


Petrifications — Moccasin  track  and  print  of  snake. 

Candle  stick,  knee  buckles  and  cloak   clasp,    belonging    to   Hon. 
Paul  Fearing. 

Four  pewter  plates,  Griffin  Greene,  1790. 

Log  wedge  found  near  'Boiler  Corner."  Marietta,  Ohio. 

Plow  made  by  Commodore  Whipple.  1808. 

Collection  old  china  by  Mrs.  Potts,  Zanesville,  Ohio. 

Silver  mounted  pistol,  Gen.   .Miles,  Revolutionary  Army. 

Lace  made  with  bobins,  Mrs    Polly  Smith  Stone 

Linen  made  from  raw  flax  by  Mrs.  Polly  Smith  Stone.  • 

Pistol  carried  through  the  Revolutionary  War. 

Powder  Horn  used  by  Asa  Col  burn,  Pioneer  of  178H. 

Wedding  Scarf  of  Betsey  Devol,  over  100  years  old/ 

Block  from  "Rhode  Island  Greening"  apple  tree  planted  1797*- 

Pocket  book  made  by  Mrs  Kinney,  1788. 

Buckeye  churn  made  in  1792  by  Robert  Allison. 

Pinchers  found  burried  at  the  mouth  of  "Cats  Creek,"  supposed 
to  have  been  lost  by  the  Moravians. 

Plate  found  in  the  old  Well  at  Fort  Harmar. 

Indian  mortar,  (stone,)  Decatur  township,  Washington  county. 

Silver  Epaulettes,  war  1812.  '• 

Gold  Epaulettes,  war  Mexican. 

Violin  brought  from  England  1790. 

Tea  kettle  ownea  by  Mary  Owens,  the  first  white  woman  owning 
land  in  the  settlement. 

Small  trunk,  1788. 

Sampler  worked  by  Martha  Brainard  Spencer,  1793. 

Collection  relics,  civil  war,  Maj.  S.   F.  Shaw. 

Candle  snuffers  bought  in  1800. 

Old  boiler  used  by  the  early  pioneers. 

Plat  shield  presented  to  Capt.  X.  Davis  by  Gov.  Meigs  and  worn  in 
war  of  1812  ...  .<. ' ...  _,';.;-.;-.< 

Button  moulds,  for  manufacture  of  inetal  buttons,  100  years  old., 

Cradle  used  in  Fort  Harmar  by  Paul  Fearing,  1788.  ,  ,    m;<);. 

Office  chair  of  Paul  Fearing,  the  first  ^wyer  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
the  Northwest  Terrtory. 

Mortar  and  pestle,  Paul  Fearing. 

Old  chair,  Paul  Fearing. 

Flask  carried  through  the  Revolutionary  War  by  Mr.  Smock  of 
Virginia.  Near  the  close  of  the  war,  owing  to  his  health  he  was  dis 
charged  and  started  for  home.  His  wife,  hearing  of  his  condition, 
started  to  meet  him  on  the  way,  and  did  so  in  time  to  attend  to  his 
wants  during  his  last  hours,  as  he  did  not  live  to  reach  home.  This 
little  memento  was  taken  home  by  his  wife,  carefully  preserved,  and 
is  still  in  the  possession  of  one  of  his  descendent,  Mrs.  L  Wood  of 
Watertown. 

Plate  belonging  to  Thomas  Hutchinson,  born  in  Block  House,  1797. 


o 

BOOKS  AND  NEWS-PAPERS. 

'•Oliio  Patriot,  1809. 

Columbian  Herald,  1788. 

Newspaper  printed  at  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  July  2,  18R3,  two  days 
fore  the  surrender. 

Eiirht  books  from  Putnam  library,  the  first  in  the  .settlement. 

New  England  Almanacs  1776-S. 

Bible  1803. 

Seven  volumes  from  first  public  library  (coon  skin)  in  Ohio. 

Book  printed  1633,  brought  to  Ohio  b»-  Rev.  Jeremiah  Dale- 
Bible  1788, 

Laws  of  Virginia,  1619. 

New  England  Primmer,  1773.. 

Vermont  Register  and  Almanac, 

Prayer  Book,  1638. 

Wooden  book,  German. 

Bailey's  dictionary,  1759.  ;-'..r.ui*.    _  ••••If, 

•Geometry.  1624. 

Adam's  Sermons,  1619. 

Webster's  spelling  book. 

Rebel  newspaper. 

•XT.  S.  army  regulations,  1799  and  179J. 

Poems,  Thomas  Howe,  1755. 

Guide  to  human  life,  1794. 

Book  of -common  prayer.  1754. 
-Universal  geography,  1796. 

Geographical  dictionary  of  the  TJ.  S.  of  America, 

Book,  "Commes  Cornmercii,"  1759. 

Pike's  arithmetic,  1797.' 

T.ife  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  179f>, 
'  "German  Bible,  1746. 

Bible,  1664. 
Testament.  16S8. 
•Campaign  songs  of  1840. 

Pamphlet  oration,  R.  J.  Meigs,  delivered  at  Marietta,  July  4,  1789, 

Pamphlet  description  of  Marietta,  by  John  Delafield. 
€opy  of  Morse's  Gazetteer,  1798. 
*Copy  of  American  Gazetteer,  1798. 

Oils  worth's  arithmetic.  1784. 

Walshe's  Arithmetic,  1718. 
^Questions  on  Murray's  grammar,  1816. 

American  render,  Noah  Webster's 

Bailey's  Dictionary. 

Ulster  County  Gazettee,  18GO, 

Muskinguui  Messenger,  1815. 


6T 

laws  of  the  United  States  I80t. 
Comic  opera  in  two  acts,  1792. 
Annotations  on  books  of  old- and  new  testaments, 
Bible,  1790. 
Prayer  book,  1'730. 
Book  of  songs,  1780. 
German  testament,  1773. 
Book— Christian  Piety— 16681 
Bible  1754, 
Hymns,  1701. 
Book  of  Sermons:,  1621^ 

Inaugural  address  President  William  Henry  Hamsonr  printed  ora 
white  satin. 

German  hymn  book,  £799^ 
Freeman's  Journal  1798. 
Book  builder's  Jewel,  1746^ 
Book  Josephus,  very  old — no  date^ 
Collection  of  Almanacs  from=  1822  to  1867. 

PORTRAITS  AND  PICTURES. 

Gen.  Greene,  of  Revolutionary  War,  life  size  in  oiL 

Capt.  Daniel  Greene,  in  oil,  life  size 

Picture  of  the  first  span  bridge  west  of  the  Alleghenie»r  over  Sefoto» 
fiver  at  Chillicothe,  Ohio. 

Dr.  Gleason  and  wife — date  prior  to  1800, 

Mrs.  Martha  Spencer  Wilson,  in  oil. 

Painting,  "Valley  of  the  Tiber/'  (smaH  stream  running  through 
Marietta  >  (  </.  . 

Oil  painting  of  Marietta  about  1820. 

Painting — water  color  of  the  last  century — Fox, 

Photograph,  Mrs.  Francis  Fielding  Gwathmey  grand  neice  of 
Gen.  Washington,  taken  1876  for  Centennial  at  Philadelphia  in  Mar 
tha  Washington's  dress. 

Geo.  Dana,  Sen.,  in  oil. 

Deborah  Ames  Fisher,  wife  of  Geo.  Dana,  Sen.,  in  oil. 

Mary  Bancroft  Dana,  mother  of  Geo.  Dana,  Ben.,  in  oil,  1774. 

Portrait  of  Maj.  Ansleiu  Tupper,  life  size,  oil,  one  of  the  48  pion 
eers  1788,  surveyor  of  the  Ohio  Company. 

Print,  General  Lafayette. 

Portrait  Col.  Inchabod  Nye,  the  pioneer,  in  oil. 

Portrait  Richard  Dodge,  in  oil. 

Portrait  Mrs.  Richard  Dodge,  in  oil. 

Photograph— group  of  early  pioneers. 

Picture  Thomas  Cor  win,  print. 

Picture  death  of  Henry  Clay,  print. 

Portrait  Peter  Von  Stuyvesant,  first  governor  of  New  York,  (copy.) 


^Portrait  John  Meyers,  early  settler,  in  oU. 

•Gen.  Lafayette,  print. 
Picture  Campus  Martius — pencil  drawing. 
Portrait  Major  Horace  Nye,  1812,  iaoiK 
Portrait  Gen.  Edward  Tupper. 
Portrait  O.  I*.  Bradford,  born  in  Belpre  1799. 

Oil  painting  of  Fort  Hannar,  erected  1785. 

Oil  Painting  Campus  Martrtis,  erected  1788. 

Oil  painting,  landing  of  the  Pioneers,  April  7   1-758. 

Oil  painting  of  Marietta,  1788. 

Portrait,  oil,  Dr.  S    P.  Hildreth,  born  1783. 

Portrait,   oil,  Dr.  John  Cotton. 

Portrait,  Rev.  John  Cotton. 

Portrait,  print,  R.  J.  Meigs. 

Portrait,  photograph,  Jesse  Hilderbraml. 

Portrait,    Gen,    Rufus  Putnam,   belonging    to    American    TJniofc 
ILodge,  No.  1,  F.  A,  Masons. 

Six  portraits  of  ear1}'  "postmasters"  of  A.  U,  Lodge  of  Masons, 

Portrait  oil.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fisher  Gilman, 

Portrait  Israel  Putnam,  3rd. 

Pen  picture  tlone  by  Mrs.  Seth  Adams,  1805. 

Portrait  Mrs.  Seth  Adams  in  her  90th  year. 

Portrait  Rev    David  Young,  1779-1858. 

Portrait,  oil,  Col.  Joseph  Barker,  pioneer  of  1'789. 

Portrait,  oil,  Elizabeth  Dana  Barker,  pioneer  of  1*7$?* 

O  ray  otis,  Maj-  Geo,  W.  Barker, 

Portrait,  Mrs.  Emeline  Devol  Barker. 

Portrait,  photograph,  Amos  Porter,  the  pioneer. 

^Picture  of  Campus  Martins. 

Portrait  Anne  Dttrant  Battelle,  last  century. 

Portraits  Ebenezer  Battelle  and  wife. 

Picture  Greene's  Stone  Castle,  Warwick,  R.  I. 

Picture  first  Children's  Home  ia  Ohio,  founded  by  Miss  Catharine 
A.  Fay, 

Picture,  session  of  congress  1795,  from  Congress  gallery. 

Portrait,  (German  Print)  Louis  Kossulb. 

Portrait  Joseph  Tomlinson. 

Portrait  Elizabeth  Tomlinson* 

Portrait  George  Henderson. 

Portrait  Mrs.  Jane  H.  Henderson^ 

Miniature,  ivory,  John  Vales. 

Portrait,  {engraving)  Kaiser  Welhelm,  (German.) 

Photograph,  Melzor  Nye,  early  settler  of  Washington  county,  later 
of  Meigs. 

Crayon   Hon.   Peregrine   Foster,  born  1759,  surveyor  Ohio  Com 
pany. 


CttlNA,  GLASS  AND  SILVERWARE" 

Fine  large  china  dish  of  Martha  Spencer  Wilson T  prior  to 

Old  plate,  (DelpU 

Tea-pot  and  large  glass  tumbler,  Mrs.  Peregrine  Foster. 

Tea  caddy,  creamer  and  three  cups,  Mrs.  Augustus  Stone,  181*2. 

Two  Dresden  plates,  Mrs.  Alexander  Henderson,  brought  frtnia 
eastern  Virginia  prior  to  1800.  ' 

Creamer,  Mrs.  Nathaniel  Dodge,  1806". 

Six  pieces- dark  blue  wedding  china,  Mrs.  A.  T  Nyer  1828.. 

China  pitcher  and  tea  pot,  Mrs.  General  Joseph  Buell,  1800p. 

Four  vegetable  dishes,  very  old,  unique  in  form r  no  date. 

Silverware  belonging  to  Baron  DeSteiguer. 

China  dish  owned  by  Capt.  Isaac  Barker,  !5th  century. 

Soup  toureerr  commemorating  landing  Gen.  Lafayette-  at  $.-  V. 

Silver  spoons   Rev.  Joseph  Buckminster,  1790. 

Silver  spoons,  large  griffin,  Sarah  Greene,  1788r 

Silver  spoons  250  years  old. 

Piece  of  ware  to  commemorate  the  inauguration  of  President  Wash 
ington. 

Antique  silver  scent  box . 

Butter  Bowlr  Eddleston,  1688". 

China  brought  to  Marietta,  1789,  by  Dudley  Woodbridger. 

Silver  spoons  belonging  to  Gen.  George  Morgan,  1768. 

Silver  spoons  manufactured  in  Kentucky  from  coin,  1810. 

Vinaigrette  belonging  to  Mrs.  Daniel  Greene,  given  as  a  wedding, 
present  by  the  wife  of  Sir  Francis  Baring,  London,  head  of  the  bank 
ing  house,  1780. 

German  Fitcher,  178& 

Table  cloth,  (German)  1738T. 

Lace  shawl,  (German)  1713. 

Two  silver  spoons,  1713. 

German  mug,  1763". 

Silverware  belonging  to  Baron  DeStefguer. 

Ancient  dish  belonging  to  Pioneers  of  1788 

Sugar  shears  brought  to  America,  1795  and  to  Ohio,  181?. 

Cup  and  saucer,  china,  1738. 

Tumbler  purchased  from  first  store  boat  landing  at  Marietta,  18()#, 

Cup  and  saucer  owned  by  Mrs.  Nancy  Frost,  now  (1888)  living,  ov 
er  100  years  old. 

Plate  belonging  to  Thomas  Hutchinson,  born  in  Block  Home,  1797, 

AUTHOGRAPH  LETTERS  AND  MANUSCRIPT, 

Autograph  Letter,  General  Lafayette. 

Commission  of  Wm.  Mason,  the  pioneer,  signed  by  GoV.  St,  Glair 
andWinthrop  Sargent. 


9 

Grant  of  land  from  Ohio  Company,  179(5  and  7. 

Autograph  letter,  General  Israel  Putnam. 

Original  Deed  for  Blennerhassett's  Island. 

Letter,  Herman  Blennerhassett. 

Two  old  records  of  Belpre  Township. 

Muster  Roll,  Capt.  Alexander  Hill's  Company,  War  of  1812. 

Plan  of  Marietta  with  explanations — verv  early,  with  ancient 
works. 

Bill  relating  to  early  steainboating. 

Account  Book,  Edwin  Putnam,  1791. 

Indenture  of  Agreement,  Dudley  Woodbridge,  Recorder,  1795. 

Legal  papers,  Paul  Fearing,  Dudley  Woodbridge,  R   J.  Meigs,  179<>. 

Two  Commissions,  Gov.  Tiffin,  1803-5 

Note  book,  made  by  Mrs.  Robert  Bradford,  1774. 

Letter,  General  liufus  Putnam  to  Col.  Ichabod  Nye  1SOG. 

Correspondence  of  War  Department  with  General  Joseph  Buell, 
arrest  of  Burr  and  Blennerhassett. 

Collection  of  papers  of  the  First  Religious  Society  of  Marietta. 

Three  public  document,  Beal  S  ted  man. 

Land  warrant,  present  site  of  Village  of  Matamoras. 

Day  book  of  Col.  Robt    Taylor,  1791. 

Collection  of  early  Masonic  documents. 

Collection,  first  records  of  Washington  county. 

Collection,  first  records  of  City  of  Marietta. 

Mercantile  Ledger,  1790,  Hollister  family. 

Deed  to  Mary  Owen,  who  came  to  Marietta  with  General  Varnum, 
1788. 

Commission  to  General  Benjamin  Tupper,  signed  by  John  Han 
cock.  :'  , 

Commission  to  General  Benjamin  Tupper,  by  Continental  Con 
gress. 

Dairy  of  Col.  Greene,  1750. 

Diary  of  John  Greene,  1781. 

Bible  of  Col.  Greene,  1742. 

Commission,  Perley  Howe  from  Gov.  Tiffin. 

Collection  of  Accounts,  1691. 

Deed,  Frances  Guitteau,  1744. 

Letter,  Jonathan  Russel,  Shareholder  Ohio  Co.,  1795. 

Letter,  General  Arthur  St.  Clair,  1810. 

Commission  of  Brewster  Higley,  by  Gov.  St.  Clair,  1801. 

Commission  of  Brewster  Higley,  by  Gov.  Tiffin,  1803. 

Autograph  letter  of  General  Geo.  Washington. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Ostensorium,  The  property  of  the  Wisconsin  State  Historical  So 
ciety,  exhibited  by  Prof.  James  D.  Butler,  who  represented  this  So- 


10 

ciety  and  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  at  the  Marietta  Centennial,  July 
15th-19th,  1888:  Made  of  solid  silver,  fifteen  inches  high  ami  elab 
orately  wrought  with  presentation  inscription  to  the  St.  Francis 
Xavier  Mission,  by  Nicholas  Perrot,  on  its  base,  dated  KJSti.  This 
unique  relic  was  unearthed  at  Green  Bay,  live  miles  from  the  old 
Mission  Station  in  1802,  by  workmen  digging  a  cellar.  A  full  de 
scription  may  be  found  in  Vol.  Ill  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Col 
lections,  and  also  in  the  address  of  Prof.  Butler,  at  the  Marietta  Cen 
tennial. 

17  cases  Indian  and  pre-historic  relics.  t 

Hand  axe,  found  near  Fort  Harmar,  site  of  old  well. 

Brick  from  chimney,  Gen.  Grant's  birth  place. 

Atlas  of  the  world,  18C8. 

Cane  from  Fort  Duquesne,  Capt.  Daniel  Greene,  1828. 

Indian  wheel  and  axe. 

Collection  of  Wm.  L.  Coffinbury,  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  Indian 
relics,  fossils,  native  ores,  &c. 

First  baby  carriage,  willow,  used  in  Marietta,  brought  from  New 
Orleans  in  1830. 

Baptismal  cup,  1756,  Greene  family. 

Remnant  lace,  Greene  family. 

Cheese  toaster,  1785. 

Glass  decantur,  Greene  family. 

Spy  glass,  used  in  1812,  Capt.  Daniel  Greene. 

Antique  German  clock,  striking  1-4,  1-2,  3-4,  1702. 

Napkins,  woven,  A.  D.  1784. 

Rifle  ball,  battle  field  of  Lexington,  found  1774-5. 

Silver  cuff  buttons,  made  in  Scotland,  A.  D.   1588. 

Silver  knee  buckles,  worn  by  Geo.  Yost,  Revolutionary  war. 

Six  pieces  Aztec  pottery. 

Turquoise  charm  and  arrow  heads,  (Aztec.) 

Confederate  sword,  battle  field,  Shilo. 

Two  cases  of  Confederate  money. 

Cane  from  wood  of  the  last  war  ship  built  for  war  of  1812. 

Persian  rug,  1772. 

Pipe  made  and  smoked  by  Tecumseh. 

German  lamp,  very  old  and  curious. 

Box  containing  gavel  to  be  used  on  "pioneer  day,"  during  the 
celebration,  July  15th-l£th,  1888,  to  be  publicly  sealed  and  re-open 
ed  and  used  July,  1988. 

Collection  of  Continental  money. 

Old  gun  used  in  French  war. 

Confederate  short  sword,  captured  in  hand  to  hand  encounter,  by 
J.  R.  A.  Norton,  in  raid  against  Selma,  Ala. 

Tooth  of  mastadon,  found  near  Barlow,  Washington  county,  O. 

Box,  made  by  Blackfeet  Indians. 

Collection  U.  8.  Fractional  Currency,  revenue  stamps. 


11 

Vessel  for  carrying  water,  made  b**  Puebla  Indians,  New  Mexico. 
,  Antique  German  clock,  1738. 

Flax,  raised  in  1805,  by  Calvin  Brigham. 

Presidential  ticket,  John  Quincy  Adams. 

Hand  embroidered  sampler  and  apron,  last  century. 

Mahogany  Rolling  Pin,  from  wood  of  ship  "Mayflower,"  brought 
to  Ohio,  171K),  by  Col  Israel  Putnam. 

Set  of  tools  for  making  wooden  shoes,  (German.) 

Handkerchief,  woven  by  hand,  1817. 

Collection  household  utensils  and  table  ware — German,  very  old. 

Gold  watch,  London,  1769,  made  by  John  Yates. 

Picture  on  ivory  of  John  Yates. 

Sword,  found  on  battle  field  of  Brandy  wine. 

Sword,  captured  from  the  French  at  Quebec,  1759,  and  afterwards 
used  at  Bunker  Hill,  177-">.  t 

Glove  and  hat,  used  at  Bunker  Hill. 

Fringes,  made  during  the  Revolution. 

Asbestos  cloth,  1747. 

Baleys  blanket,  1747. 

Infant's  skirt,  1782. 

Linen, 1741 

Vest,  worn  by  Joseph  Wilson,  1782. 

Buttons,  made  by  the  Pioneers  of  1778. 

Small  Revolutionary  Cannon,  .swivel  and  breech  pin  with  descrip 
tive  history,  used  on  war  ship  "Bon  Homme  Richard." 

Four  pieces  Continental  money. 

Battle  axe,  found  on  Blennerhassett's  Island. 

Chair  of  King  George  II. 

Piece  of  silk  dress,  belonging  to  wife  of  Miles  Standish. 

Cane;  from  wood  of  war  ship  Constitution. 

Iron  ball,  battle  field  of  Waterloo. 

Two  balls,  battlefield  of  Bunker  Hill.  * 

Sword,  used  by  Commander  at  Marblehead,  Mass.,  war  of  1812. 

Collection  of  Dr.  West,  old  papers,  parchment,  books  and  Indian 
relics. 

Carpenter's  and  cooper's  tools,  made  by  Stephen  Hildreth,  1818. 

Sod  plow,  made  by  Joseph  Morris,  1S23. 

Collection  Indian  relics,  H    A.  Mason. 

Collection  relics  of  civil  war,  H.  A.  Mason. 

Military  outfit,  Dr.  Samuel  Hart,  surgeon,  civil  war. 

Candle' stick,  1680. 

Embroidered  sampler,  done  at  Conn.  Seminary,  1802. 

Hatchet,  used  by  Capt.  Edmund  Bancroft,  War  of  Revolution, 
1774. 

Collection  of  old  German  coin. 

Pair  ancient  stirrups  supposed  to  have  been  used  in  the  crusade  of 
the  llth  century. 


12 

Copper  coin,  Commonwealth  of  Mass.,  1735. 

Pruning  shears,  1812. 

Broad  sword  or  sabre,  war  of  1812. 

Spear,  captured  at  battle  of  Brandywine. 

Welch  lamp,  over  200  years  old. 

Indian  mask. 

Beaded  basket,  of  the  last  century. 

Military  outfit,  Dr.  Josiah  D.  Cotton,  surgeon,  civil  war. 

Hetchel,  Mrs.  X.  Bishop,  (early  pioneers.) 

Two  pieces  of  quartered  money. 

Table  cloth,  spun  and  woven  by  hand,  1823. 

Stockings  knit  in  1805,  by  Mrs.  Martha  Cone. 

Wedding  shawl,  1799. 

Pocket  knife,  1768. 

Compass,  used  by  William  Penn. 

Antique  bottle,  unique,  very  old. 

Collection  of  relics  of  the  civil  war,  by  the  G.  A.  It. 

Collection  of  relics  of  the  civil  war,  by  W.  H.  Styer. 

Old  linen,  made  in  1800,  Sa?em,  Washington  county,  Ohio. 

Silver  coin,  1772. 

Pair  Highland  shoes,  wooden. 

Two  candlesticks,  1758. 

Two  pewter  plates,  Fisher  family 

Cane,  presented  to  Geo.  Hammett  by  Gen.  W.  H.  Harrison. 

Pewter  sugar  bowl  and  basin,  1791. 

German  lamp,  1688. 

Money  book,  1776. 

Sword,  captured  at  Monroeville,  John  Morgan  raid. 

Tea  kettle,  taken  from  French  prisoner,  French  and  Indian  war, 
by  John  Foster. 

Bank  bill,  Parkersburg,  W.  Va.,  Bank,  1815. 

Wagon  jack,  used  in  wagoning  across  the  mountains,  1797. 

Box,  belonging  to  Amos  Porter,  the  pioneer. 

Warming  pan,  Welch,  1700. 

Bed  tray,  from  buckeye  tree  in  Campus  Martius,  1803. 

Clock,  brought  from  Ireland,  1700. 

Bellows,  brought  from  England,  1786. 

Collection  of  old  time  surgical  instruments. 

Sword,  1743. 

Lock,  from  the  first  house  built  in  Putnam.  Ohio,  -by  Dr.  Math- 
ews  and  his  brother,  1802. 

Coffee  pot,  bought  at  Durnphreys,  Va.,  1767,  been  in  constant  use 
ever  since. 

Trunk,  brought  over  in  the  "Mayflower,"  1620,  used  as  a  treasure 
tox  by  Ezra  Tuttle,  one  of  the  Connecticut  Colonists,  who  removed 
from  the  Plymouth  Colon}'  in  1731. 


13 

X.IST  OF  RELICS,  CLASSIFIED  BY  FAMILIES. 

BLEXNERHASSETT  RELICS. 

"Dining  table,  folding,  very  large. 
lh-<»ssing  table. 

Window  curtains,  (chintz. ) 

• 

Large  mirror. 

Bed  spread,  (chintz.) 

Back  gammon  board. 

Key  to  Blennerhassett  mansion. 

Two  knives  and  forks. 

Thermometer. 

lilass  goblet. 

Two  arm  chairs  from  Fearing  Collection. 

Demijohn. 

Pipe  lighter. 

'One  chair. 

One  chair  and  workstand.  Barber  collection. 

Wash  stand,  bowel  and  pitcher,  Skinner  collection. 

Table,  from  the  Ward  collection. 

Pewter  basin. 

Ontre  table. 

Mrs.  Blennerhassett's  lawn  chair. 

Cut  glass  plate. 

Powder  horn. 

Tea  pot,  china. 

Knife,  fork  and  spoon  case. 

Stable  keys. 

Book  rack. 

Cane,  from  apple  tree  of  the  old  orchard. 

BRADFORD    COLLECTION. 

Portrait  of  0.  L.  Bradford,  born  in  Belpre,  O  ,  1700. 

Sword,  presented  to  Maj.  Robert*  Bradford  by  Gen.  Lafayette,  at 
Yorktown,  Oct.  19th,  1781. 

A  chair,  brought  to  Belpre  from  Plymouth>  Mas*.,  in  17SO. 

Box  covered  by  Paul  Fearing. 

Army  chair. 

Holsters. 

Canteen  used  by  Private  Fearing. 

Knife,  fork  and  spoon,  used  by  Private  Fearing. 

Ballet  case. 

Two  picture  frames,  filled  with  photographs  of  officers  of  the  late 
war. 

One  painting  of  General  Thomas. 


A  Lieutenant's  commission  given  to  Maj.  Robert  Bradford  by  (u-ou 
Morris,  1826. 

Andiron,  brought  over  in  the  Mayflower  by  Geo.  Bradford,  lti'2((l 

Note  book,  made  in  1774  by  wife  of  Maj.  Bradford, 

Cap,  worn  by  Mrs  O.  B.  Bradford,  1338. 

One  pewter  basin,  (Blennerhassett.) 

One  Japanese  fan  belonging  to  M.  A.  Lewis,  a  relative  of  W«K[I- 
ington. 

Wedding  slippers  of  Mrs.  O.  L.  Bradford* 

Baby  cap. 

Horn  spoon,  (Scotch  ) 

Confederate  sword  from  Shilbh. 


BUELL  RELICS 

Inlaid  side  board,  General  Joseph  Buell, 
Brass  andirons,  General  Joseph  BuelV. 
Old  Dutch  oven .  , 

Inlaid  folding  centre  table.  \, 

Wine  chest  with  six  cut  glass  bottles^ 
Inlaid  book  case. 
Brass  candlesticks. 

China  pitcher  and  tea  pot,  General  Joseph  Buell, 
Collection  Burr  and  Blennerhassett  papers,  concerning  then'  ar 
rest  and  detention,  General  Joseph  Buell,  18C(>, 


COFFINBERRY  COLLECTION 


Indian  snow  shoes. 

Iron  bear  trap . 

Indian  whistle,  from  Upper  Michigaii. 

Cane,  stalk  of  red-wood  from  California,  handle,  a  doe's  foot  froirx 
Michigan. 

Piece  of  a  battle  flag  earned  through  *  Bull  Run  Fight,"  by  the' 
"Old  Third"  Michigaii  Infantry 

Map  of  Government  work  at  Lowell,  Ohio,  drawn  in  184O,  by  W. 
L,  Coffinberry. 

Map  of  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan. 

Totem,  Indian  tribal  sign. 

Specimens  of  copper  and  iron-ore,  of  quartz  and  woods,  native  t«"' 
Michigan. 

Models  of  inventions  by  W.  L  Coffinberry. 

Old  newspapers. 


1-5 

DALE  AND  DANA  COLLECTION. 

"Picture  of  Hon.  Peregrine  Foster,  born  1750,  one  of  the  Surveyors 
"»f  Ohio  Company. 

Silk  brocade  dress.  1780,  part  of  the  bridal  outfit  of  Mrs.  Peregrine 
Foster. 

Tea-pot,  individual,  used  in  1770,  when  it  was  not  considered  pat 
riotic  to  drink  tea  except  in  sickness. 

Piece  of  tine  linen. 

Punch  glass. 

Two  china  bowls. 

Silver  shoe  buckles,  Deborah  Fisher  Dana. 

Plate,  1774. 

Book — A  treatise  concern  ing  the  State  of  Departed  Souls,  printed 
in  UK}:-},  from  Library  brought  to  Ohio  by  Rev.  Jeremiah  Dale. 

Seven  Volumes  of  the  first  Public  Library  in  Ohio,  founded  in 
Belpre. 

Bible,  ]788,  given  to  her  son  Stephen,  by  Mrs.  Capt.  Wm.  Dana, 
1800. 

Walnut  box,  with  three  secret  drawers,  brought  to  Ohio  in  181<>, 
from  Sa*lem,  Mass  ,  by  Deborah  Ames  Fisher. 

Portrait  of  Mrs.  Mary  Bancroft  Dana,  wife  of  Capt  William  Dana, 
born  in  Pepperell,  Massachusetts,  1752,  moved  to  Belpre,  Ohio,  in 
I78». 

Portrait  of  George  Da  mi,  Sen.,  bom  in  Belpre.  in  1700. 

Portrait  of  Deborah  Ames  Fisher,  wife  of  George  Dana,  Sen. 
(These  three  portraits  were  painted  in  1825.) 

Hatchet,  used  by  Capt.  Edmund  Bancroft,  in  Bevolut-ion,  1774  or 
'75,  father  of  Mary  Bancroft  Dana. 

Oak  plank,  from  ."Mayflower,"  one  of  flatboats  which  brought  the 
t'lirly  settlers  to  Marietta — Afterwards  used  in  building  his  house  in 
Belpre,  by  Aaron  Waldo  Putnam,  the  house  was  torn  down  in  1888, 
Avhen  Mr.  W.  F.  Dana  secured  several  planks. 

FEARING  COLLECTION. 

Two  Blennerhassett  chairs. 
Pipe  lighter. 
Demijohn. 

Office  chair,  belonging  to  .Paul  Feaiing.  the  first  lawyer  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  Northwest  Territory. 

Cradle,  02  years  old.  used  in  the  old  Fort, 
Silhouette  of  Paul  Fearing, 
Knee  buckles,  Paul  Fearing. 
Candle  stick.  00  years  old. 
Linen  cloak  clasps. 


rer 

Photograph  of  General  Fearing. 

14th  army  corps  flag. 

Confederate  flag. 

One  Confederate  short  sword,  captured  at  Selva,  Afj.-: 

.Sword,  General  Fearing. 

Cap,  General  Fearing. 

Flay:  penwiper. 

Hand  glass. 

Silver  cup. 

Root  from  the  battle  field  of  Shiloh. 

Trousers,  worn  by  General    Fearing    in   battle  of  CFiicka 
n*ended  by  a  soldier  after  the  General  was  wounded  in  both  legs. 

Coat,  worn  by  General  Fearing  in  the  battles  of  Shiloh  and  Ken— 
tori vi lie,  stars  made  by  a  soldier  and  put  in  place  of  the  eagle*. 

Two  small  flags,  used  by  General  Fearin-r  in  his  tent- 
Spurs. 

Leggings. 

Two  sashes. 

Afghan  captured  on  March  to  the  Sea. 

Two  transparencies,  with  all  the  great  battles  of  tin-  lute  war- 
printed  upon  them,  used  by  the  General  at  an  illumination  at  Uur 
elose  of  the  war. 

GREENE  AXLXHALL  COLLECTION 

Portrait  of  Capt.  Daniel  Greene,  came  to  Ohio,  181. A. 

Portrait  of  General  Nathaniel  Greene. 

Set  very  old  casters,  1  old  table  spoon. 

12  pieces  of  old  china,  1812. 

2  glass  dishes. 

Old  smelling  bottle,  1800. 

Pair  candle  sticks. 

Cheese  toaster  and  bill  for  same,  1812'. 

Pieces  of  old  lace  and  ribbon. 

-Sampler  over  100  years  old. 

Cane  presented  by  Lafayette- to- Capt.  \V.  Hall. 

Silk  picture  of  Lafayette. 

Autograph  letter  of  Lafayette  to  Capt.  If  all,  1S23: 

Eight  pieces  of  jewelry  120  years  old. 

One  cane  cut  from  a  tree  in  Fort  Duquesnc.  1820: 

Five  old  fashioned  dresses,  1800  to  182O, 

Autograph  letter  of  Henry  Clay. 

Telescope  used  in  war  1812. 

Silver  candlestick  beaten  from  solid  silver. 

COL.  DAVID  GREENE  COLLECTION-. 
Bible  owned  by  Col.  David  Greene  1742> 


17 

Seruaon  owned  b'  Col.  David  Greene,  printed  1021. 
Hymns,  owned  by  Col  [David  Greene,  "701. 

Sword,  captured  from  French  at  Quebec,  1759,  and  used  at  Bunker 
Hill  by  John  Greene,  son  of  David  Greene. 

Hat  and  glove  worn  by  John  Greene,  at  Bunker  Hill. 

2  infants  blankets,  one  of  satin,  one  of  asbestos  cloth. 

Linen,  147  years  old. 

Diary  of  Col.  Greene,  1750. 

Dairy  of  John  Greene,  1781. 

Fringes,  made  during  the  Revolution,  by  Keziah  Greene 

Vest,  worn  by  Joseph  Wilson,  100  years  old. 

Infants  shirt,  worn  by  Joseph  Wilson,  Jr.,  106  years  old. 

Glass  plate,  60  years  old. 

HENDERSON    RELICS 

Two  pewter  plates. 

Old  style  ladies  dress. 

Linen  towel. 

Solid  silver  canalestick. 

Childs  dress,  old  style. 

China  plates. 

Pair  of  pockets. 

Sampler. 

Child's  short  gown, 

Silver  cup,  belonging  to  Major  McMahon,  found  in  his  pockeJ 
when  killed  by  the  Indians,  1794 

Portrait  (oil,)  Joseph  Tomlinson,  who  with  his  brother  Samuel, 
made  the  tirst  settlement  at  Williani.stown,  W.  Va  ,  opposite  Mari 
etta,  1773 

Portrait  (oil,)  Elizabeth  Tomlinson,  wife  of  Joseph,  painted  at  the 
age  of  83. 

Portrait,  Mrs.  Jane  H.  Henderson,  wife  of  Alexander  Henderson, 
Cashier  of  the  first  Bank  at  Marietta. 

Portrait,  Geo   Henderson,  son- of  Alexander,  1802. 

China  platter  with  illustration,  "Brid*e  of  Lammermoor." 

GENERAL  LAFAYETTE  RELICS. 

Autograph  letter.  1828 

Four  Lafayette  plates,  made  to  commemorate  his  landing  at  New 
York. 

Cane, -bowl,  Revolutionary  cap  and  dagger. 

Cane,  presented  to  Capt.  Wyllis  Hall  by  General  Lafayette,  who 
was  a  passenger  on  his  boat,  when  sunk  on  the  Ohio  River. 

Picture  of  General  Lafayette,  (print.) 

Sand  box.  * 


rs 

MATHEWS  COLLECTION. 

One  box  and  stamp  ease,  belonging  to  John  Mathew»> 

One  locket,  belonging  to  John  Mathews. 

Seven  buttons^  belonging  to  John  Mathews. 

Three  old  coins,  belonging  to  John  Mathews, 

One  bracelet,  belonging  to  John  Mathews. 

One  seal  and  ring,  belonging  to  John  Mathews. 

One  silver  watch,  belonging  to  John  Mathews. 

One  piece  satin  embroidery,  made  by  the  Countess  Petite,  Aunt" 
of  John  Mathews,  over  100  years  old. 

Ofne-  sampler,  made  by  Mary  A,  Greene,  wife*  of  Capt.  Daniel 
Greene,  over  ICO  years  old." 

One  picture  of  John  Mathews,  . . .  -, -  - , . . 

One  picture  of  Countess  Petite,  Aunt  of  John  Mathews. 

One  pair  of  slippers  belonging  to  the  Mathews  family,  A.  D.  1790. 

One  Commission  of  Deputy  Surveyor  to  John  Mathews. 

One  Badge  Membership,  Washington  Benevolent  Society,  Johrn 
Mathews,  admitted  March  10,  1814. 

One  ledger  of  the  Gallipolis  Company,  kept  by  John 
1701-92-93, 

GOV.  R.  J.  MEIGS  RELICS. 

Old  mantles,  from  the  old  residence,.  Marietta. 

Hickory  rocking  chair. 

Stand  table. 

Portrait  photograph, 

Tea  caddy. 

Six  pieces  fine  china. 

Large  folding  table. 

Two  old  engravings,  Venetian  scenes'. 

CLARKSBTJRGH,  W.  VA.,  COLLECTION. 

Silver  aumulet,  presented  to  Gov.  Meigs  by  an  Indian. 

Silver  teapot,  large  pitcher,  tumblers  and  tablespoons, 
to  the  silver  service  of  Gev.  and  Mrs.  Meigs  brought  from  Connect!-- 
cut,  -  }., 

Scarf,  belonging  to  Gov.  R.  J.  Meigs,  in  which  General  Montgom 
ery  was  carried  off  the  field  at  the  siege  of  Quebec.  "_' 

Music,  copied  by  Mary  Sophia  Meigs,  only  child  of  Gov.  Meigs,  in 
1806,  at  the  age  of  12. 

Portrait  of  R.  J.  Meigs,  father  of  Gov.  Meigs,  Colonel  of  the  Con 
necticut  Regiment  at  Stony  Point,  who  was  presented  with  a  »word, 
by  act  of  Congress,  in  acknowledgment  of  good  »ervicif  rendered  oif 
that  day.  He  also  served  in  the  American  army  at  the  battle  of- 
Bunker  Hill. 


^Portrait.  Gov.  R.  J.  Meigs. 
Portrait,  Mrs.  R.  J.  Meigs. 

NYE  AND  TUPPER  COLLECTION. 

Box  of  Washington  clothes,  woven  during  Revolution. 

Photograph  of  Frances  Fielding  Gvvathmey,  grand  neice  of  Wash 
ington. 

Autograph  letter,  Henry  Clay. 
'     Autograph  letter,  W.  H.  Harrison. 

Portrait  of  Major  Anselm  Tapper,  officer  of  Revolution,  pioneer  r> 
Ohio,  April  7th,  1788, 
•••••  :.  Picture  of  Lafayette. 

Portrait  of  Col.  Ichabod  Nye,  pioneer,  of  Aug.  9th,  1788. 

Portrait  of  Richard  Dodge,  son  of  Oliver  Dodge,  pioneer,  of  April 
7th,  1778, 

Portrait  of  Mrs.  Betsey  M.  Dodge 

First  willow  baby  carriage  nsed  in  Marietta,  bought  in    New  Or 
leans  in  1830, 

Tools  from  th«  first  tannery  in  North  West  Territory,  established 


Lolh  handled  frying  pan,  1788. 

Five  pieces  of  tihina  belonging  to  Mrs.  Rebecca  Dodge  Storre,  1812. 

Two   Dresden  plates,  belonging   to   Mrs.    Alexander  Henderson, 
brought  from  Eastern  Virginia,  last  century. 

One  creamer,  belonging  to  Mrs.  Nathaniel  Dodge,  1806. 

Six  pieces  dark  blue  china,  bought  by  Mrs.  A  T.  Nye,  1828. 

One  embroidered  lace  dress,  80  years  old,  belonging  to  Mrs.  Hor 
ace  Nye 

One  pillow  case  of  cotton,  raised,  spun  arid  woven  in  Ohio,  by 
Exrferience  Sprague. 

Cdminissary  chest  and  bottles,  belonging  to  General  Rufus  Put 
nam,  used  in  Revolution. 

.  One  map  of  Marietta,  showing  position  of  ancient  works,  now  olv- 
^iterated. 

Picture  of  first  members  of  Pioneer  Sol.  of  Washington  county. 

Old  picture  of  Marietta,,  in  frame,  of  carved  oak,  taken  from  first 
log  house  in  Putnam,  Ohio. 

Picture  of  Thomas  Corwin. 

Picture  of  the  death  of  a  son  of  Henry  Clay^ 

Picture  of  Campus  Martius. 

Portrait  of  Major  Horace  Nye,  war  1812. 

Portrait  of  General  Edward  W.  Tupper,  war  1812. 

Account  book  of  Edwin  Putnam,  dating  from  1791. 

Pistol  and  sword  of  Major  Horace  Nye,  war  1812. 

Chair  of  King;  George  the  Second. 


20 

Letter  from  General  Rufus  Putnam  to  Col    Ichubod  Nye,  1806. 

Piece  of  silk  dress  that  belonged  to  the  wife  of  Miles  Standish, 
l«20. 

Piece  of  General  Washington's  saddle,  1775. 

Cup. 

Two  china  plates. 

Sugar  bowl. 

Decant  ur,   17*58. 

Book,  publislied  in   1604. 

Candlestick,  used  in  the  first  Masonic  lodge  in  Marietta. 

Plat  of  Campus  Martius.  showing  houses  occupied  by  different 
families,  during  the  Indian  war,  drawn  by  M.  Nye,  for  E.  W.  Nye. 

Ladle,  spoon  and  old  table  linen,  (old.) 

Old  corn  mill  used  in  Campus  Martius 

Brick  from  first  chimney  in  Campus  Martius. 

Two  lace  veils  in  frame,  made  by  Patience  Guiteau. 

Shelling  cob,  brought  from  Shenandoah  Valley,  1825. 

Commission  to  Gen.  Benj.  Tupper,  signed  by  Hancock. 

Commission  to  Gen.  Benj.  Tupper,  by  Continental  Congress. 

Photograph,  M.  Nye,  pioneer. 

Old  shoe  bench,  first  in  the  Territory. 

Arm  chair,  Major  Horace  Nye. 

Two  cut  glass  decanturs,  1790. 

Silver  baking  dish,  (old  ) 

English  watch,  (gold,)  belonging  to  Betty  Washington  Lewis. 

Tea  caddy,  belonging  to  Nancy  Manchester  Dodge,  1780. 

Fac  simile  of  Gen.  Washington's  accounts. 

China  cup,  belonging  to  Mary  Cram,  1738. 

Photograph  of  Sergeant  Theodore  Tupper,  killed  at  Shiloh,  great 
grandson  of  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam  and  Gen.  Benjamin  Tupper. 


PLUMER  RELICS, 

Portrait  of  Dr.  Wm.  S.  Plainer, 
Portrait  of  John  M.  Plumer. 
Spoon  moulds.  Wm.  Moulton. 

Ship  axe,  used  for  building  boats  for  Gen.  Wayne's  army,  by  Wm. 
I M  inner.  ;   ; 

Platter,   brought  from    Newburyport,   Mass.,  by   Lydia  Motilton, 
with  wedding  cake. 
Copy  of  .Tosephus,  published  in  lf>7o 

The   identical  cups   and  saucers  that   were  carried  into  Campus 
Martins  when  the  Indians  made  the  attack. 
Thimble,  belonging  to  Lydia  Moulton. 

Tea  cannister,  belonging  to  Dr.    Leonard,  the  first  physician  at 
Marietta. 


22 

Tumbler,  purchased  from  the  first  store  boat  landing  pt  Marietta, 
1803. 

Spectacles,  Mrs.  Win.  Plumer,  1804. 

Spectacles,  Mrs.  Win.  Fulton,  1802. 

Watch,  (Irish,)  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fulton,  1788. 

Thimbles,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fulton. 

Salt  cellar,  1760. 

Very  old  plate,  Sarah  Fulton  Guiteau. 

Plate,  Mary  Bartlett,  1800. 

Decantur,  Lydia  Moulton,  17^8. 

First  sheep  bell  used  at  Marietta. 

Woolen  blankets  and  wool,  from  first  sheep  brought  to  Marietta. 

Cream  colored  blanket,  exhibited  at  the  first  County  Fair  held  at 
Marietta. 

PUTNAM  RELICS. 

Gun,  used  during  the  Revolution  war. 

Powder  horn,  Gen.  Israel  Putnam,  1756. 

Brass  bullet  moulds,  Gen   Israel  Putnam. 

Large  magnet,  Gen.  Israel  Putnam. 

Razor  horn. 

Autograph  letter,  Gen.  Israel  Putnam. 

Holster  with  two  pistols,  Gen.  Israel  Putnam. 

Gun  case,  Gen.  Israel  Putnam. 

Commissary  chest  with  six  bottles,  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam. 

Tea  pot,  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam. 

Plate  china,  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam. 

China  cup  with  handle,  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam. 

Silver  teaspoon,  marked — R.  P.P. 

Table  cloth. 
.,../  Bed. curtains.      .... 

Corner  of  linen  sheet,  manufactured,  marked  and  used  in  family 
of  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam.  -n, 

Mahogany  stand  table,  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam. 

Antique  clock,  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam. 

Foot  stool,  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam. 

Warming  pan,  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam. 

Army  chest  and  sword,  of  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam  from  American 
Union  ^odge,  No.  1,  F.  &  A.  Masons. 

Picture  of  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam. 

Masonic  apron  and  sash,  of  Gen.  Rufus  Pntnam,  A.  U.  Lodge,  No. 
1,  F.  &  A.  Masons. 

Piece  of  table  linen,  Israel  Putnam,  3rd. 

Portrait,  in  oil,  life  size,  Gen.  Israel  Putnam. 

Military  coat,  presented  to  Gen.  Israel  Putnam  by  Lafayette,  at'- 


23 

ter  the  surrender  of  Cormvallis  at  Yorktown. 

Cane,  belonging  to  Gen.  Israel  Putnam. 

Brocade  wedding  dress,  Mrs.  Israel  Putnam. 

Military  suit  of  Major  L.  J.  P.  Putnam,  descendant  of  Gen.  Israel 
Putnam. 

Mirror,  Gen.  Israel  Putnam. 

Mahogany  rolling  pin,  from  wood  of  ship  "Mayflower,"  brought 
to  Ohio  by  Col.  Israel  Putnam,  1790. 

Bed  curtains,  belonging  to  Gen.  Israel  Putnam. 

Chair,  used  by  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam. 

Set  of  spoons,  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam. 

Reel,  of  Persis  Putnam  Howe,  daughter  of  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam. 

Knee  buckles,  of  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam. 

Military  sash  and  epaulette,  Gen   Rufus  Putnam. 

WASHINGTON  RELICS. 

Telescope,  used  by  Washington,  having  been  left  by  him  5n  Phila 
delphia  for  repairs,  and  never  called  for,  well  authenticated. 

Thread  and  cloth,  spun  and  woven  in  the  Washington  family ;  du 
ring  Revolutionary  war,  well  authenticated  by  descendants,  resident 
at  Marietta.  ;.  ,.  ; 

Photograph,  Mrs.  Frances  Fielding  Gwathmey,  grand  neice  of 
Gen.  Washington,  taken  in  187<>,  for  the  Centennial  at  Philadelphia, 
in  Martha  Washington's  dress. 

Japanese  fan  and  wedding  slippers,  (Mrs.  Lewis.) 

Piece  of  saddle  skirt,  used  by  Washington. 

Piece  of  ware,  commemorative  of  Washington's  inauguration  as. 
President. 

Pair  of  slippers,  made  by  Nellie  Custis,  step-daughter  of  Washing 
ton. 

Part  of  the  original  cornice  of  Gen.  Washington's  house. 

Cup  and  saucer,  used 'by  Washington. 

Autograph  letter  of  Gen.  Washington. 

WOODBRIDGE  COLLECTION. 

Log  cabin,  in  which  Gov.  St.  Clair  made  a  treaty  with  the  Indians 
1789 

Specimen  of  Giant's  Causeway,  weighing  120  pounds,  taken  from 
the  Irish  shore  in  1837. 

The  first  bank  safe  used  in  North  West  Territory. 

A  stone  mortar  and  pestle  used  by  Indians — The  mortar  cut  from 
rock  in  Decatur  Township,  Washington  County,  Ohio. 

Ac  ase  of  mound-builders  tools,  arrow-heads,  pipes,  oinaments, 
<&c.,  &c. 

The  first  business  ledger  opened  in  the  North  West. 


24 


Pewter   plate,  two  rip   axe  knives,  bale  of  a  backet,  <fec.,   takcrr 
from  the  Fort  Harmar  well. 

Brick  from  the  curbing  of  the  well  at  Campus  Martins. 

Likeness  of  Mrs.  Blennerhassett  . 

Lawn  chair  of  Mrs.  Blennerhassett, 

Letter  of  Mrs.  Blennerhassett. 

Letters  of  H.  Blennerhassett. 

Likeness  of  H.  Blennerhassett. 
*  Likeness,  Louisa  St.  Glair. 

Likeness,  Judge  Dudley  Woodbridge.  ,.    , 

Likeness  of  Gov.  Woodbridge,  of  Michigan. 

Likeness  of  Dudley  Woodbridge.  .  *  •  .••     ;.-<...•; 

Likeness  of  John  Woodbridge.     All  of  whom  came  to  Marietta  in 
in  1789.  -  .-' 

Likeness  of  Mrs.  Nancy  Frost,  born  in  1784.  came  to  Marietta  in 
1789,  and  is  still  living. 

Letters  of  Henry  Clay  and  Daniel  Webster,  Nicolas  Beddle,  John* 
Crittendon. 

The  door  and  some  of  the  chinking  of  the  cab  m  in  which   lived 
Commodore  Whipple. 

China  plate  brought  to  Marietta,  in  1789,  by  the  family  of  Dudley' 
Woodbridge. 

Silver  spoon,  one   hundred   and  twenty  yearn  old,  formerly   the 
property  of  Gen.  George  Morgan. 

Silver  spoon,  manufactured  from  coin  in  Kentucky,  in   1810.    ••• 

Book,  entitled  "The  Decay  of  Christian  Piety,"  two  hundred  ami 
twenty  years  old.  ;<• 


:-KI{ 


